US to spend 40 million dollars on Darfur

ABUJA, Oct 28, 2004 (Xinhua) — United States Ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell said Thursday his country has decided to spend 40 million US dollars to ensure the return of peace to the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan.

U.S. troops set to be deployed to the violent Darfur region of western Sudan gear up after arriving in the Rwandan capital Kigali on October 23, 2004.

Campbell made the disclosure here this morning when he watched the take-off of the first batch of 47 Nigerian troops that left for Darfur to beef up the strength of Nigerian troops already in the area.

The Nigerian troops, which comprised of four officers and 43 soldiers, departed the Abuja International Airport on board a US Air Force plane at 10:15 a.m. (0915 GMT).

Campbell said the US government had spent nearly 20 million dollars “in this enabling mission operation, while a further expense of almost 20 million dollars had been identified as part of an international effort.”

He said the United States considered the peace operation under the leadership of the African Union (AU) and Nigeria “very seriously.”

According to the ambassador, the US government will continue to provide support to ensure the return of peace to the region.

The Darfur conflict erupted when two rebel forces alleging economic and political marginalization of the African black people by the Arab-led government in Khartoum took up arms to protest for the right.

The conflict has escalated into what the United Nations called the world’s current worst humanitarian crisis and caused thousands of deaths and forced about one million to flee to neighboring Chad or to be internally displaced.