E.U. pledges 10 million euro aid for Darfur war victims

BRUSSELS, June 03, 2004 (dpa) — The European Commission on Thursday pledged to give 10 million euros in humanitarian aid to the victims of the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region.

The Commission – the executive arm of the European Union – also demanded that relief workers be given rapid and unhindered access to people suffering because of the war in the region.

Officials said the E.U. contribution – also announced at a United Nations conference on the situation in Darfur being held in Geneva – was designed to meet a range of emergency needs including health, nutrition, shelter and water, sanitation in the war-torn region.

An estimated one million people would be helped, they added.

The new funds are in addition to the 9.2 million euro aid package for victims of the Darfur crisis announced last month.

“We are currently facing one of the largest recent humanitarian crises in the world with more than 2 million people – a third of the entire population of the Darfur region – badly affected by the armed conflict,” European Development Commission Poul Nielson said in a statement.

“The international community has a moral duty to act quickly and decisively to prevent this crisis from further deteriorating,” he said.

But Nielson warned that donors must be given quick and unhindered access to victims.

“I have found it particularly discouraging that in the face of such a desperate crisis, humanitarian aid workers have been met with unnecessary bureaucratic constraints and aid supplies have been targeted by the warring parties,” Nielson warned.

“These incidents are unacceptable and need to stop immediately,” he added.