Finland donates $722k to AU High-Level Implementation Panel on Sudan

July 15, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) — The Finnish government said it is donating $722,000 in support for the work of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP).

A statement released by the Finnish Embassy in Addis Ababa said that the contribution is made from the development cooperation funds at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Led by former South African President Mbeki, the Panel was formed in Abuja last October in order to provide support for the Sudanese parties in resolving the conflict in Darfur and implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended the two-decades long civil war between the north and the south of the country in 2005.

The Embassy said Sudan is facing a critical period following the first general elections which were held in April and in the middle of preparations being made for the referendum on the self-determination of South Sudan, scheduled for January 2011.

The funds provided by Finland were made available through the United Nations (UN), which supports the AUHIP and is its main partner in the peace facilitation process.

The African Union High-Level Panel on Darfur (AUPD), was established in July 2008 following the decision taken by the Peace and Security Council of the African Union to examine the situation in Darfur and to make recommendations on how best the issues of accountability and combating impunity, on the one hand, and reconciliation and healing, on the other, could be addressed effectively and comprehensively, within the context of the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Darfur.

The Panel presented its findings to the AU and was subsequently endorsed by the Peace and Security Council. The latter formed the implementation panel also chaired by Mbeki with an extended mandate to support the Sudanese parties in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and other related political processes within Sudan.

(ST)