|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov
(202) 712-43202001-070
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 6, 2001Contact: USAID Press Office
Administrator Natsios standing with a group of Sudanese people holding welcome signs.WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator and Special Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Andrew S. Natsios, announced today that USAID is planning two new development initiatives to enhance education and agriculture for the people of southern Sudan.
The initiatives, which will create a teacher's college and increase agricultural production, are a direct result of the Special Humanitarian Coordinator's visit to northern and southern Sudan in early July. Both programs are a part of an overall plan to improve the lives of the people of southern Sudan and help them prepare for eventual peace.
The main objective of the Teacher's College and Basic Education program is to increase access to quality basic education for children in southern Sudan. The program will include teacher training for new teachers in conjunction with an established African university and a U.S. education institution; community school development by providing instructional materials, teachers' salaries, and scholarships to encourage students to stay in school; the creation of a cluster of schools in which five to seven schools receive support services from a designated "mother school," and distance learning, which would increase assess to basic education via radio and other technologies.
"Over the last 18 years, young people have been deprived of primary and secondary schools," Natsios said. "Educationally, a whole generation has been lost."
The goal of the Agricultural Extension Services program is to strengthen local capacities and self-reliance in the agricultural sector and increase production and marketing of agricultural products and livestock in southern Sudan. The program will combine business and management training with agricultural training to produce managers for the southern Sudan agriculture sector.
It is anticipated that funding for USAID's humanitarian and development programs in Sudan will approach $100 million for an increase of approximately of $25 - 30 million in FY 2002.
As the Special Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Natsios will work closely with Senator John C. Danforth, whom the President named today as the Special Envoy for peace in Sudan.
"I'm looking forward to working together to further the Administration's goals in Sudan. Over the last four months, we've seen clear signs of progress on the humanitarian front," Natsios said today. "Just last week a special bilateral relief flight sponsored by the U.S. government delivered eight metric tons of food to the opposition controlled areas of the Nuba Mountains in Sudan, a milestone event in this tragic civil war."
This was the first time the Government of Sudan has cleared such a flight to areas controlled by the opposition Sudanese People's Liberation Movement.
"We look to both sides in the conflict to ensure continued access to the needy populations in the Nuba Mountains," Natsios said. "We also affirmed with the Sudanese people, the neutrality of humanitarian relief and emphasized that relief is not based on politics."
Recent USAID developments include:
- Approving $4 million and an additional 65,000 tons of food aid to drought and war victims in Sudan.
- Plans to provide $1,000,000 to UNICEF's child soldier demobilization project in southern Sudan.
- Agreement by the Sudanese government to simplify and expedite visa procedures for American nationals working with aid agencies in government-controlled areas.
- Creation of a USAID task force to focus and sustain U.S. government humanitarian and development efforts in Sudan.
"Sudan's 18-year conflict has been called the most deadly in the world," said Natsios, "Its victims will have our full attention until a just peace is possible."
 |
|||
|
