UN needs for $1.8 billion in Sudan aid
Dec 19, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan’s humanitarian and development needs will reach a whopping 1.8 billion dollars in 2007, by far the largest share of the global funds demanded by UN chief Kofi Annan, the United Nations said Tuesday.
“Sudan will require more than 1.8 billion dollars to fund humanitarian, recovery and development projects in 2007,” said a UN press release.
A “UN work plan for Sudan” conceived jointly by the world body, NGOs and Sudanese government institutions was unveiled Tuesday in Khartoum.
“The vast majority of the funds — some 1.26 billion dollars — will go to fund humanitarian activities for large numbers of the population still in considerable need, with nearly half the amount dedicated to Darfur,” the statement said.
“Sudan’s humanitarian operation represents the largest slice of 3.7 billion dollars appealed for by the UN secretary general for humanitarian assistance worldwide in 2007,” it added.
The UN runs the world’s largest relief operation out of Sudan.
Africa’s largest country is torn by several simmering civil conflicts and the humanitarian crisis in the western region of Darfur — where fighting has raged for four years — is considered the worst in the world.
Huge development funds are also needed to bolster the fragile peace agreement that ended more than two decades of north-south civil war in January 2005.
(AFP)