Denmark gives additional aid to Sudan’s Darfur region

COPENHAGEN, July 2 (AFP) — Denmark has agreed to give an additional 15 million kroner (2.0 million euros, 2.47 million dollars) in aid to Sudan’s strife-torn state of Darfur, bringing its total aid to the state to 45 million kroner since the end of 2003, the government said on Friday.

“Darfur has become a tragic example of an insane war in Africa where an entire population has been forced to flee,” Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said in a statement, denouncing the “irresponsible politics which threaten to claim the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people.”

“We must prevent this from happening… International efforts are necessary,” he said.

At least 10,000 people have been killed in Darfur since February 2003 when black African rebels rose up against Khartoum, prompting the government to give marauding Arab Janjawid militia a free rein to attack villages.

The World Health Organisation has warned that some 10,000 more people are likely to die over the coming month in Darfur without a massive aid operation.

About 900,000 of the displaced are spread across 130 makeshift camps with little water, no sanitation and poor health care.

The onset of the rainy season is expected to make their situation worse and many of the displaced are still afraid to return home because of the Janjawid.