Donor states meeting at the World Banks Paris office confirmed Friday they would go ahead with the 4,5 billion US dollar (27,9 milliarder DKR) aid package to Sudan over the next three years which was pledged last year, but urged an end to the civil war raging in the vast countrys Darfur region, reports the Wortld Bank press review Monday.
Sudans first Vice President, Salva Kiir Mayardit, heard representatives from European states, the US, the African Union (AU), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) call for an end to the Darfur conflict. The donors group said, however, that it was agreed, while there had to be “decisive steps to end the crisis in Darfur,” aid should not be conditional on a peace agreement.
Humanitarian aid would be continued, “although the need for improved security and access on the ground was emphasized,” according to a statement issued at the end of the meeting.
The international community further “called on all parties to the conflict to put an immediate end to hostilities on the ground, and welcomed the commitment to the national government (of Sudan) to reaching an agreement in the AU-led peace talks in Abuja.”
Jan Pronk, the UNs chief envoy to the region, said the ongoing Darfur crisis “cast a cloud” on Sudan, and called for “an immediate end to hostilities on the ground.” He said that the situation in Darfur – described by the UN as the worlds gravest humanitarian crisis – had “negative implications” for continued aid to south Sudan.
First Vice President Mayardit further said Friday that he believes a solution to the Darfur conflict can be found by the end of the year, maybe sooner. Mayardit, himself a former rebel, called on Darfur rebels to put down their arms, and said he was confident that peace talks between the national unity government and Darfur rebels will intensify.
Mayardit said he believes peace talks can turn the corner with the national unity government handling negotiations, better placed to address thorny issues like power- and wealth-sharing.
Meanwhile, the World Bank agreed that Sudan faced a funding gap as only a fraction – 50 million dollar – of the 4,5 billion dollar had been spent on development projects with over 1,1 billion dollar being used for more urgent humanitarian needs, largely in the south of the country.
The World Bank puts aid needs at 2,5 billion dollar just in southern Sudan where more than 2 million people have died, mostly through famine and disease, during two decades of war formally ended by a peace deal last year.
World Bank Vice President for Africa, Gobind Nankani, noted it was difficult to carry out projects in the troubled country, where infrastructure has been destroyed by war and aid workers fear for their safety. Aid to Sudan is expected to total 1,8 billion dollar this year.
The donors agreed Sudans economy has potential. It grew 8 percent last year and had 647 million dollar in oil revenues. The south has complained it has yet to receive its share of oil revenues and has criticized the oil ministry for lack of transparency.
The World Banks Country Director for Sudan, Ishac Diwan, said a recent audit by accountancy firm KPMG had largely cleared up confusion about discrepancies in the sum of the oil revenues. The donors plan to meet again in Sudan in October.
In a statement issued after the Sudan Consortium, a joint UN, World Bank and IMF statement Saturday called upon Sudan to push for greater transparency in the oil sector as part of the countrys Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
The international institutions also welcomed the improvement in oil sector transparency, including “the publication of detailed oil sector data, the completion of audits of the state-oil company Sudapet, and regular transfers of state oil companies profits to the treasury,” the joint statement said.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
