$200 Million More Pledged on Darfur

International donors pledged an additional $200 million Thursday to fund the African Union peacekeeping operation in Sudan’s western Darfur region during a conference to discuss the ongoing violence.

AU Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said officials were still analyzing the pledges but it appeared that enough money had been raised to bolster the force in Darfur. “There is a clear will. Many states and countries are willing to bridge the gap,” Konare told reporters.

Canada made the largest new pledge, promising $134 million. Charles Snyder, the State Department’s senior official on matters involving Sudan, said Washington was adding $50 million to the $95 million already pledged to end what he called “acts of genocide.”

The AU has 2,270 peacekeepers in western Sudan trying to stop the fighting between rebels and Arab militias. The AU plans to increase the number of troops to more than 12,300. The organization has asked for $723 million to help finance and equip the operation; it was $350 million short at the start of the conference.

The crisis in Darfur erupted when rebels took up arms against what they saw as years of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of African origin. The government is accused of responding with a counterinsurgency campaign in which Arabic-speaking militias committed large-scale abuses against ethnic Africans. At least 180,000 people have died -- many from hunger and disease -- and about 2 million have been displaced.

The peacekeeping operation is a critical test of international commitment and Africa’s resolve to end conflicts on the world’s poorest continent, Konare said.

“If Sudan were to collapse, then the entire continent of Africa, with nine countries bordering Sudan, will also suffer and collapse,” he told the donors.

AU officials announced that Darfur peace talks would resume in Abuja, Nigeria, on June 10.