Nielson looks to restart Sudan aid programme

Date: 03/04/03

By David Cronin

DEVELOPMENT Commissioner Poul Nielson is seeking to restart a major aid programme for Sudan, which has been on hold for more than a decade due to a fierce civil war.

Nielson estimates some €400 million in planned EU assistance to Sudan was not released because of unsatisfactory conditions on the ground. The European Commission warned Khartoum back in March 1990 that it was unable to fund development projects (other than strictly humanitarian aid) because of a lack of respect for human rights and democracy by the government of Umar Hasan Ahmad Al-Bashir, who seized power in a military coup the previous year.

A 20-year-old civil war has so far claimed two million lives, with recent fighting increasingly aimed at controlling the country's oil resources.

However, the Union's executive has taken heart from recent peace talks between the Muslim-dominated Sudanese government and Christian guerilllas, the Sudan People's Liberation Army.

Speaking to European Voice, Nielson said he is due to hold talks with both parties to the conflict during his visit to Africa this week (1-7 April). "There seems to be a real attempt by the two sides to conclude a peace agreement," he said, arguing he hopes it will stimulate a democratisation process. This could pave the way for a "gradual opening" for EU aid to Sudan, he explained.

"The €400 million that was programmed but not moved is now back in the pockets of the citizens of Europe. We won't be able to spend €400 million just like that."

Nielson said the Commission backed the key findings of a new EU Court of Auditors report on the Union's activities in long-term food security. This contained criticisms of Ethiopia, which Nielson is also visiting this week. It said that Addis Ababa was concentrating too much on emergency food aid and not enough on land reform, women's rights and environment issues which impinge on food security.

Nielson argued that the Commission had been impressing the need to address structural weaknesses relating to food security on the Ethiopian authorities for some time, unlike the US "which has been more willing to pour in wheat than other donors".

The Ethiopian government, he said, had agreed to address the concerns, but the drought currently gripping the country has proven to be a major setback.

But Ethiopia's EU envoy branded the auditors' study as "ill-informed". Berhane Gebre-Christos said: "We have a long-term food security policy, where we look at the root causes of the problem. For example, we are looking at water conservation, soil conservation and digging wells."

The ambassador said the drought brought about by erratic rainfall during the last two rainy seasons in Ethiopia is "much worse" than that which triggered a massive famine in the 1980s. Some 11 million of its 60 million inhabitants are now at risk.

Development Commissioner Poul Nielson is seeking to restart a major aid programme for Sudan, which has been on hold for more than a decade due to a fierce civil war.