UN agency appeals for $40m aid
2006-01-30 22:19
Rome - A United Nations food agency appealed on Monday for $40m for Sudan, saying supporting agricultural development in the African country was crucial to ensuring lasting peace.
UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said that although a peace accord last year ended more than 20 years of civil war in southern Sudan, the country's humanitarian needs for 2006 "remain immense".
It cited the ongoing conflict in the country's western Darfur region, the risk of a poor harvest and the return of hundreds of thousands of displaced Sudanese.
The Rome-based agency said that with agriculture remaining the mainstay of the Sudanese economy - compromising 45% of gross domestic product - humanitarian assistance must be coupled with longer-term development.
Anne Bauer, the agency's director for emergency operations and rehabilitation, said: "Supporting returnees seeking to resettle will be a top priority, and ensuring adequate materials and services to enable returnees to engage in agricultural, livestock or fisheries-based livelihoods upon their return will be central to this process."
- AP