Sudan peace needs aid

WASHINGTON, Jan 22, 2004 (UPI) — A report done for the U.S. State Department released Thursday says aid and a peacekeeping force will be needed to achieve peace in Sudan.

The report, “An Action Strategy for a Post-Conflict Sudan,” was commissioned by the State Department’s Africa Policy Advisory Panel and was prepared by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

It says the peacekeepers should have a U.N. mandate and must be backed by “substantial economic assistance and debt reduction.”

“The stakes in Sudan are enormous, from combating terrorism, persistent conflict, and failing states in Africa to introducing democracy and openness in the Middle East and improving U.S. goodwill in the Arab and Muslim worlds,” the report adds.

Sudan, one of the poorest countries in Africa, has been wracked by 40 years of intermittent war between the largely Arab and Muslim majority in the north, based in the capital Khartoum, and the largely Christian and African minorities in the south.