International donors due in Sudan to assess post-war needs

KHARTOUM, Dec 26 (AFP) — A team of international donor countries will travel to Sudan next month to assess the country’s needs after a peace agreement is reached to end the 20-year civil war, a press report said Friday.

Independent Al-Sahafa daily quoted Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs Mohamed Yusuf Abdallah as saying the team would spend six weeks in Sudan touring both government- and rebel-held areas in the south to compile data on urgent needs and required development projects.

The international team is due to arrive on January 8, according to the paper.

A team of Sudanese technicians has already been formed to help the international team and participate in drafting the final assessment report that is to be submitted to a donors conference to be held in Oslo by the end of April, Abdallah said.

John Garang, the leader of southern-based rebel group the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), is currently holding talks in Kenya with Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Taha aimed at ending two decades of war between the oil-rich south and Khartoum.

Last week, the two sides reached a rough agreement on sharing the proceeds from the country’s oil production, currently at 300,000 barrels per day.

The United States has said it is hopeful a peace settlement will be reached by the end of the year.

The war, which erupted in 1983, has claimed at least 1.5 million lives and displaced an estimated four million people.