Ireland Announces Another Two Million Euro For Humanitarian Aid In Chad

The funding is for humanitarian programmes operated by Concern, Child Fund and the World Food Programme for refugees from Darfur and those internally displaced by ongoing conflict.

Making the announcement, Mr Ahern said that he had "witnessed at first hand the desolation and deprivation visited on our fellow human beings, not just by Mother Nature's vagaries, but also by the terrible employment of human enterprise in war and conflict," during his recent visit to Chad. "The deployment of European Union peacekeepers will help to prevent further terror being visited upon innocent men, women and children.

"In the meantime, this contribution on behalf of the Irish people to the work of Concern, Child Fund and the World Food Programme in Chad, will bring hope and relief to some of those suffering at this time."

For the last two years, funding was provided to a number of United Nations agencies working in Chad including UNHCR, OCHA, UNDP and UNICEF.

In 2007, Irish Aid provided about €4.75 million in funding for humanitarian relief projects in Chad undertaken by the above agencies, the French NGO Medicines Sans Frontieres, Child Fund and Concern Worldwide.

In September the Department of Agriculture also announced an additional donation of €2 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Chad, specifically for the Humanitarian Air Service, which provides transport to bring food to remote regions, bringing Irish support to Chad in 2007 to €6.75 million.