EU sends extra $40m to Darfur

BRUSSELS – The European Commission on Monday said it was sending an additional $51m in aid to help people in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region.

The commission said some 26 million euros in new funds would go towards food supplies for victims of the Darfur crisis. Other aid activities being financed would include protection measures as well as air transport services carried out by the United Nations.EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said: “Darfur is suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.”He was speaking on his return from a visit to El Fasher in Northern Darfur.EU development commissioner Louis Michel called once again on the Sudanese authorities and the rebel movements to ensure the safety of civilians and humanitarian workers in the region.Since 2004, the commission had provided humanitarian aid worth more than 340 million euros to help people in Darfur.Last month, the EU urged the Sudanese government to give up its resistance to deployment of an international peacekeeping mission to the troubled Darfur region.The bloc had also pressed for the implementation of a peace agreement signed in May between Khartoum and the Sudan Liberation Army, an African rebel group.Since 2003, the ethnic conflict in Darfur had killed more than 300 000 people and displaced more than two million.Sapa-dpaOther aid activities being financed would include protection measures as well as air transport services carried out by the United Nations.EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said: “Darfur is suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.”He was speaking on his return from a visit to El Fasher in Northern Darfur.EU development commissioner Louis Michel called once again on the Sudanese authorities and the rebel movements to ensure the safety of civilians and humanitarian workers in the region.Since 2004, the commission had provided humanitarian aid worth more than 340 million euros to help people in Darfur.Last month, the EU urged the Sudanese government to give up its resistance to deployment of an international peacekeeping mission to the troubled Darfur region.The bloc had also pressed for the implementation of a peace agreement signed in May between Khartoum and the Sudan Liberation Army, an African rebel group.Since 2003, the ethnic conflict in Darfur had killed more than 300 000 people and displaced more than two million.Sapa-dpa