European Commission announces €20 million worth of aid

The European Commission has announced €20 million worth of aid (US $21,646,000) for its implementing partners in Sudan in 2003. "This new Global Plan is a concrete expression of our commitment to help bring relief to people who have suffered enormously and are in desperate need of aid," said Poul Nielson, the European Commissioner in charge of Development and Humanitarian Aid in a press release issued on Tuesday. The EC Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) had planned a response to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, covering 18 months from January 2003, the statement said. Regardless of political developments in Sudan, ECHO would continue to cover the whole of the country according to needs, and in respect of internationally recognised humanitarian principles, the EC said. If the ceasefire agreement signed in October 2002 held, areas of the country which were previously inaccessible to aid workers would be opened up and increasingly large return movements of internally displaced people could begin. If, on the other hand, the process failed and fighting resumed, continued humanitarian aid would still be necessary. The priorities covered by the Global Plan include health, nutrition, water and environmental sanitation, emergency preparedness and response, and food security.