Dutch govt earmarks EUR100 Mln to rebuild Sudan’s Darfur region

AMSTERDAM, July 27, 2004 (AP)–The Dutch government plans to give EUR100 million toward reconstruction in Sudan once fighting in the African nation’s troubled western Darfur region ends, Development Minister Agnes van Ardenne said Tuesday.

The Netherlands, which holds the rotating E.U. Presidency, has already promised to send three helicopters, 120 trucks and EUR27.5 million in humanitarian aid to Darfur.

Sudan is under pressure from the international community to end violence between government-backed Arab militias and black Africans that has killed 30,000 people and driven more than a million from their homes.

Van Ardenne’s comments came at the same time U.S. and E.U. governments were pushing for U.N. sanctions against the Sudanese government if it fails to end the fighting.

“What the Netherlands will now do is concentrate on what will need to happen afterward,” she said on Dutch radio.

“The people of Darfur need to have some perspective of a future. Therefore I’ve decided to establish a group of friends, friends of Darfur, a number of donor countries, rich countries, that will gather money for the coming reconstruction,” she said.

She called the 100 million Dutch contribution “a start.”

Earlier this month, Van Ardenne had called on other European countries to increase their humanitarian aid for Darfur, where an estimated 2.2 million people are in need of food and shelter.

She said Tuesday that she had had a good response, with European countries now offering a combined EUR200 million in short-term help.

“If it turns out that more emergency aid is needed then people can always can come back to the Netherlands,” she said.