Welcome
Humanitarian assistance for the Sudan
Whilst in the Sudan, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle announced that the Federal Foreign Office will make an additional one million euro available for humanitarian assistance to the country. This brings the total to 4.2 million euro so far this year.
Foreign Minister Westerwelle issued the following statement in Khartoum today (23 June):
“We are deeply concerned at the plight of the refugees fleeing the violence in Abyei and South Kordofan.
Given the hardship in which these people find themselves, we have decided to offer them more help.
We call on the authorities in the North and South to work fast on viable solutions to the problems besetting the border region for the sake of these beleaguered people.
Aid workers must be granted unhindered access to the emergency zones.”
The new funds are earmarked for the distribution of food to internally displaced persons from the regions of Abyei and Kordofan by the World Food Programme. The provision of emergency medical care by Médecins Sans Frontières for particularly hard-hit population groups in Unity State and for internally displaced persons in South Darfur by the Johanniter Emergency Service are also to be financed.