Arab League bemoans members’ unpaid Darfur pledges

Feb 19, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Arab League countries have failed to fulfill promises to help their most needy members despite pledges made nearly a year ago, officials acknowledged ahead of a Monday meeting in the Sudanese capital.

League secretary general Amr Mussa conceded on Sunday that commitments — notably to assist the Palestinians, Somalis and people of Sudan’s Darfur region — had not been met.

“We did what we could in the present circumstances,” the secretary general told reporters upon arrival in the Sudanese capital for a follow-up committee meeting over last March’s summit.

The 22-member organisation, which includes oil-rich Gulf states, is due to hold its next summit in Riyadh on March 28-29.

So far, only 10 percent of the 150 million dollars pledged in Khartoum last year for the African peacekeeping force in Darfur has been paid up although Mussa remained confident that more funding was in the pipeline.

“We have many pledges and we are monitoring this very closely with the African Union,” he said.

The AU’s cash-strapped peacekeeping contingent deployed in the war-torn western Sudanese region has failed to contained the deadly four-year-old violence in which thousands have died.

The Arab League’s number two, Ahmed Ben Helli, also told AFP that only 360 of the 660 million dollars pledged to the Palestinian Authority last March had effectively been paid.

He also said the 26-million-dollar development fund promised to Somalia had received few contributions.

Monday’s Khartoum meeting is expected to offer support to a planned African Union peacekeeping operation in Somalia, where the situation remains volatile two months after the Ethiopia-backed government ousted an Islamist movement.

The meeting in Khartoum is also expected to discuss the political stalemate in Lebanon and the sectarian violence in Iraq.

(AFP)