Sudan Asking For $6 Billion

Seriously, this is no joke. If the Sudan seriously wants some help why not go begging to Saudi Arabia or to China? China has it's greasy fingers in Sudan's oil and Saudi Arabia has plenty in it's coffers from oil revenue. But if any country gives aid it should be on the condition that Khartoum stops the massacres, forced enslavement and genocide in Darfur. Reuters

OSLO (Reuters) - Sudan will ask donor nations meeting this week for $6 billion over the next three years to help rebuild Africa's largest nation after decades of civil wars, and host nation Norway said it would provide nearly $500 million.

The Sudan consortium, which began meeting on Monday, has met yearly since a 2005 north-south peace deal ended Africa's longest civil war.

It is the stage for richer nations to show their support for maintaining peace in Sudan by pledging development funds.

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The U.S. special envoy for Sudan, Richard Williamson, urged Beijing to use its economic might to influence events in Darfur and expressed disappointment at China's absence from the donors' meeting.

"China is the country with the deepest economic involvement with the nation of Sudan," Williamson told Reuters. "So if they were to choose to use that influence constructively, they could have an impact, and one that other members of the international community would like to see them take," he said.

International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes in five years of revolt in Darfur. Khartoum blames the Western media for exaggerating the conflict and puts the death toll at 10,000.

A report to the consortium, put together by the Khartoum government in conjunction with south Sudan's administration, said Sudan needed $6.1 billion for development over the next three years -- on top of $2 billion in humanitarian aid.