Sudan: France is helping Darfur more than Saudi Arabia

Today's Washington Post prints a letter to the Editor from Jean-David Levitte, Ambassador of the French Embassy in Washington, as a rebuttal to the paper's unfair criticism of France's role in the Sudan. Mr Levitte points out France is contributing about $100 million to help Darfur, and it has pledged about $144 million for Sudan during the next two years.

As stated here several times before, France has been of huge help to Sudan. The French were the first in the West to send troops to the Sudan/Chad border for the airlift of emergency aid into Darfur which saved a lot of lives. For all we know, the 200 French soldiers may still be there.

Also (thanks to Eric at Passion of the Present for pointing it out) on page 2 of the above link, there is a letter from Rihab Massoud, Charge d'Affaires at Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Washington who reveals Saudi Arabia's contribution of USD 13.7 million. [Chicken feed compared to what Britain alone has contributed to Darfur.] Here is a copy of the letter:

We Are Helping Sudan

"Arabian Shame" drastically understated the amount of assistance Saudi Arabia gives to Sudan. During the past three decades, Saudi Arabia's foreign aid has averaged about 4 percent of its gross domestic product, well above the official U.N. goal of 0.7 percent.

In addition to the $3 million donated to the U.N. Darfur campaign last year, Saudi Arabia contributed $10.7 million in August 2004 for food and medicine for the region's displaced people through the Saudi Red Crescent Society. This supplemented its humanitarian relief, which has included supplying power generators; drilling wells; a 200-bed field hospital and clinics; and dispatching a Saudi medical team to provide urgent care.

In April Saudi Arabia sent 40 tons of medical equipment and foodstuffs to support the displaced and needy in Darfur. Since last summer, it had dispatched 46 planeloads of aid to western Sudan. In addition to relief assistance for Darfur, Saudi Arabia has given emergency relief aid to Sudan when it has been afflicted by floods, as happened in 2001 and 2003.

RIHAB MASSOUD
Charge d'Affaires
Embassy of Saudi Arabia
Washington
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Blogger war ends with partnership

Nice article by Dawn Eden at New York Daily News - Dawn Eden's Blog On! about how Coalition for Darfur blog started. Steve Dillard writes a post on it.

Tags: Sudan Darfur Africa Saudi Arabia France Washington Khartoum flood foreign aid Chad Coalition for Darfur