São Paulo – Brazil is going to help Sudan fight child mortality and develop family farming in Darfur, a conflicted region in the West portion of the country. According to information supplied by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations, the government is donating US$ 200,000 to actions for reducing child mortality, by means of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and US$ 300,000 for encouraging family farming, through the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
Minister Milton Rondó Filho, general coordinator of International Action Against Hunger at the Brazilian Foreign Ministry (Itamaraty) attended the humanitarian aid handing-over ceremony in Khartoum on this Monday (7th) alongside a diplomat from the Brazilian mission at the UN, representatives of the two international organizations involved, and the Sudanese government. On this Tuesday (8th) and Wednesday (9th), Rondó was scheduled to visit the Darfur region.
According to the Itamaraty, the donation of US$ 200,000 to fight child mortality is part of a trend of strengthening food security and nutrition to vulnerable groups in Darfur, such as women, pregnant women, children, people with special needs, people with chronic conditions, and students. The US$ 300,000 consist of humanitarian aid to the people and government of Sudan for the social-economic development of Darfur. The focus is on encouraging the purchase of food by the WFP from family farmers in the region, in order to strengthen them.
According to information supplied by the Ministry of Foreign Relations, even though the donations are channelled through international organizations, they were made by request of the Sudanese government. The funds should be used before the year ends. According to the Itamaraty, the Brazilian government makes this type of donation to countries, for instance, that undergo social-natural calamities, or in which the population is experiencing acute hunger.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
