EU allocates €17m for humanitarian needs in Sudan ahead of referendum

By Julius N. Uma

October 31, 2010 (JUBA) – The European Commission has approved an additional package of €17 million (over $23 million) to support the advance preparation of essential humanitarian provisions in Sudan’s western Darfur region, the south and other transitional areas ahead of the referendum, expected in January 2011.

The referendum on the self determination of South Sudan is a key part of Sudan’s 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the accord that ended over two-decades of a bloody civil war between north and south.

The Commission’s decision, according to its press release, brings to €131 million ($183 million), the total amount of support directed for humanitarian aid in Sudan.

“The humanitarian needs in several parts of Sudan are considerable. We need to boost our response to avoid the looming breakdown in food assistance programmes. We also need to provide support to our partners so that they are prepared, thus preventing a further deterioration of the humanitarian situation threatened by violence which could surround the referendum of 2011”, Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said in the press release.

The additional funding is aimed mainly at providing food and nutritional supplies, as well as non food items such as medical kits, seeds and tools.

According to the European Commission, the humanitarian community should be prepared for any unrest or displacements that may result from the referenda in south Sudan and that in the oil-rich Abyei region.

Sudan remains the European Commission’s largest beneficiary of humanitarian aid, with Commission-funded projects being implemented by non-governmental relief organisations, specialised UN agencies and the Red Cross movement.

(ST)