Africa faces 'silent tsunamis'
2005-12-26 12:46
Brussels - The European Union on Monday earmarked €165m for 10 crisis centres in Africa, saying droughts, floods and armed conflict ravage the continent like "silent tsunamis".
Sudan is the biggest beneficiary and will receive €48m while Congo has been allocated €38m. Burundi, Chad, Liberia, Tanzania and Uganda will each receive over €10m in aid.
"We remember the victims of the tsunami in South East Asia. But millions of vulnerable people in Africa are exposed to natural disasters like droughts, floods and insect infestations as well as armed conflicts," said EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel.
"These are silent tsunamis."
In Sudan's western Darfur region, at least 180 000 people have died and two million have been displaced during two years of fighting, which began when rebels took up arms against what they saw as years of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of African origin.
The government is accused of responding with a counterinsurgency campaign in which the ethnic Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, committed wide-scale abuses against ethnic Africans.
The EU Commission said Sudan currently hosts the largest population of internally displaced people. It said the main purpose of the aid was to stabilise living conditions for those affected by war, poverty and drought.
The fighting in Congo drew in armies from six neighbouring nations and, according to aid groups, left nearly four million people dead, mostly through starvation and disease. The United Nations, with over 15 000 peacekeepers in the country, is guarding a shaky calm.
The EU Commission said the population continued to suffer despite the political progress.
- AP