Sudan appeals for billions

SUDAN: Sudan needs almost US$8 billion (six billion euros) for reconstruction and development over the next two years to recover from two decades of north-south civil war, an assessment team said on Wednesday.

The team, made up of representatives from the Khartoum government and the ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), said $7.8 billion (5.8 billion euros), would be required through 2007.

Much of that was to be funded with domestic oil revenues, and international donors would be asked to contribute $2.66 billion (two billion euros) of the total, the team said.

But the amount did not include the massive expenditures that will be needed for UN peacekeeping operations in the south, it said. -- AFP