Sudan needs almost $8-billion for reconstruction and development over the next two years to recover from two decades of north-south civil war, an assessment team said on Wednesday.
The team, made up of representatives from the Khartoum government and the ex-rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), said $7,8-billion, would be
required until 2007.
Much of that was to be funded with domestic oil revenues, and international donors would be asked to contribute $2,66-billion of the total, the team said.
But the amount did not include the massive expenditures that will be needed for UN peacekeeping operations in the south, it said. Nor did it cover money that would be required to restore stability to Sudan’s troubled western Darfur region where at least 70 000 people have been killed and 1,6-million others displaced in two years of fighting.
The assessment was the first comprehensive analysis of Sudan’s needs since the north-south war. Africa’s longest civil conflict ended in January after 21 years and the loss of about 1,5-million lives.
The assessment was to be presented at an international donors conference in Norway next month, when potential contributors were to review the Sudanese situation in light of the expected return of millions of people displaced by the fighting.
”This is not just a run-of-the-mill appeal document,” said Taj el Sir Mahjoub, who headed Khartoum’s delegation on the team known as the Joint Assessment Mission or JAM.
”It is a statement of intent and a political commitment on our part to be fully engaged in the reconstruction of our country,” he told reporters in the Kenyan capital.
”Yes, we need external assistance, but we will more than match that with our national resources,” Mahjoub said.
Of the $7,8-billion needed through 2007, the team agreed that $4,3-billion would be required for the north and $3,5-billion for the south, which is woefully lacking in infrastructure.
”South Sudan has no hard roads, only rudimentary health and education facilities and we are starting from a very low point in terms of human capacity,” said Kosti Manibe, the top SPLM man on the team.
”However, with technical assistance combined with new oil wealth, we expect to catch up rapidly,” he said. ”Our emphasis is on combatting poverty and many years of exclusion.” ”The next era will be one of hard work, but also a great deal of
enthusiasm.” – Sapa-AFP