Darfur: N20bn Relief Materials Stranded
by Chuks Okocha
Abuja, Jan 31, 2005 (This Day/All Africa Global Media) — Over N20 billion relief materials meant for refugees in the war-torn Dafur in Sudan are stranded at the Nnamadi Azikiwe International Airport due to the refusal of the Sudanese Government to give the directive for the delivery of the materials.
Also, a group, the Global Peace Initiative headed by Dr. Kanen K. Paul has accused the Sudanese President Omar Bashir of frustrating their efforts to delivering the over N20 billion ($146 million) relief materials to the refugees and other victims of the Dafur crisis in Sudan.
This was disclosed Saturday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Internal Airport Wing by the President of the Global Peace Initiative, Dr. Paul at a press conference before he addressed the African Union Summit where he laid his compliant.
According to Paul who arrived Abuja by 1.30pm “we have in our 747 Jumbo Jet relief materials comprising of Medicare, food items and other charity needs of the people of Dafur but we have a problem. The problem is that the President of Sudan is yet to get us the landing rights to deliver these goods to the refugees in Dafur.
“These relief materials have been packaged for onwards delivery to Dafur since six months, but each time we want to depart, the aides of the President of Sudan will write and ask us to postpone arrival because of what they call security reasons.”
The President of Global Peace Initiative who explained that their relief materials was primarily meant as a charity donation to alleviate the suffering of families in Dafur said that they were in Abuja to meet the African Heads of State and appeal to them to let the Sudanese government allow the organization meet the charity needs of the refugees in Dafur.
According to Paul “Once approval is given, we have twenty trips of this 747 Jumbo Jet to make to Dafur and each trip load of the delivery is worthy over $100 million.”
Paul who also lambasted the International Community of concentrating relief donation to the victims of Tsunami in the Southeast Asia queried “why the too much attention to the victims of Tsunami where 155000 peoples died whereas in the Dafur over two million people have so far been killed and yet the international community is not falling each other to donate relief materials.