Donors pledge $2bn in Sudan aid

Returning refugees could put more pressure on a deprived region

Wealthy nations have pledged more than $2bn (£1.05bn) in aid to southern Sudan, after one day of a donor conference in Norway's capital, Oslo.

United Nations chief Kofi Annan told delegates that two million people faced food shortages in a "matter of weeks".

He urged delegates to show commitment to rebuilding the region, which is emerging from years of civil war.

Sudan wants donors to give a total of $2.6bn (£1.37bn) to fund the return of refugees and revive the infrastructure.

The European Union said it would contribute more than $700m, while the US, expected to be the largest single donor, will pledge its contribution on the second day of the conference.

Earlier on Monday, UN humanitarian affairs chief Jan Egeland expressed confidence that the meeting would raise the full amount.

Mr Annan, the UN secretary general, urged donors to make sure they actually paid up, saying: "Pledges are good, but cash is better."

'Time for action'

The money is just a fraction of the $32bn promised by donors to rebuild Iraq.

Despite a recent peace deal to end a long-running civil war in southern Sudan, a 21-year civil war in the area has made it the poorest region in Africa, says the BBC's Lars Bevanger, in Oslo.

Mr Annan told delegates from 60 countries: "In the south, we will run out of food for two million people in a matter of weeks."

Q&A: Peace in southern Sudan

"If there was ever a time for donor countries to get off the fence, it is now."

The Sudanese government and rebels in the south ended their civil war with a power-sharing agreement in January.

Donors such as the US warn peace will unravel in the south unless violence is curbed in Darfur, western Sudan.

But Mr Annan said the money for the south must be given unconditionally.

He said: "All the people of Sudan want clean water, food for their families, schools for their children, proper healthcare, and the prospect of development.

"They have earned this peace. We should not fail them."

Refugees 'already moving'

Sudan's southern rebels and government say funds are desperately needed to ease the return of hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled one of Africa's longest-running civil wars.

The $2.6bn demanded from foreign donors represents one-third of the total sum needed - much of the rest of the money is expected to come from revenues from Sudan's largely unexploited oil fields.

January's peace deal between Khartoum and the rebels envisaged a power-sharing government in the south and a division of oil revenues.

Former rebel leader John Garang told the BBC many of the refugees had already begun to make arduous journeys back home.

He warned they faced great danger unless given essentials such water and security along the route.