American Generosity

U.S. to pledge up to $2 billion in aid to Sudan

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Hoping to invigorate Sudan's peace process, the United States will promise more than $1.7 billion in aid for the war-ravaged African country, the No. 2 State Department official said Monday.
Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick is attending an international conference for donors to Sudan this week, where he will formally announce the pledge, press for progress in the western region of Darfur and rally other countries to do the same.

Zoellick said Monday that Sudan, Africa's largest country, is at a crossroads. It can move toward peaceful reconciliation by stopping violence in Darfur and implementing the agreement the warring North and South reached in January to end a 22-year civil war that has taken more than 2 million lives.

Bush administration officials say ending violence in Darfur is essential to a successful peace agreement between the mostly Arab Sudanese government in Khartoum in the North and the black African rebels who control the South. The United Nations says that in Darfur alone, 180,000 people have died and more than 2 million uprooted from their homes since early 2003.

Zoellick said the United States will give Sudan more than $1.7 billion for this year, and "there will be more" over the next two years. Congress already has allocated $850 million for Sudan in 2005 and the president has asked lawmakers to approve another $880 million.

...Sudan is seeking $2.6 billion over three years from the international community for emergency reconstruction, mostly in the country's devastated southern region. The United Nations wants to send another $1.5 billion for humanitarian aid.

Since 2003, Sudan has received $1 billion in U.S. aid related to the North-South war and $600 million for Darfur.
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It seems like the U.S. is offering a massive share of the assistance Sudan is seeking.

I hope the world community, which is so often so critical of the U.S. in regard to aid, takes note.