Last update - 00:00 13/05/2007
Aid plan for Darfur refugees to be submitted to cabinet
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
The Foreign Ministry will in the coming days submit its aid plan for the refugees of Darfur in western Sudan to the cabinet for its approval. If the plan is implemented, it will constitute one of Israel's most significant humanitarian gestures in recent years.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Haaretz that the ministry's NIS 20 million aid plan was intended to help relieve the "intolerable situation" in Darfur. "As I said when I spoke before the United Nations last year, there are certain places in which the world must act." Livni said she was aware that Israel's contribution was small in comparison to the needs of the refugees. "It's not a lot and and the effect won't be too dramatic, but it's imperative that we take action on this," she said.
The ministry's plan will in the following days be presented to Livni for her approval, and then to the cabinet. The plan includes several recommendations:
1. Joining the international effort to fund various aid organizations. This will entail transferring $4 million to four aid organizations: the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Program (WFP) and the Red Cross.
2. Transferring $800,000 worth of food, medication and water desalination equipment to the Central African Republic - which maintains diplomatic relations with Israel - for the treatment of refugees from Darfur.
3. Setting up an eye clinic in Kenya, 50 kilometers from the Sudanese border, with two Israeli doctors who could attend to hundreds of patients.
4. Transferring NIS 150,000 to IsraAID, the Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid, which coordinates the actions of Israeli NGOs operating in Sudan's neighboring states.
5. Mobilizing Israeli activists for fund-raising efforts for the refugees.
Livni added that in many cases, private aid by Israelis to victims of disaster areas where Israel's involvement is not wanted, because of political reasons, can help improve the public opinion of Israel.