Darfur recovery needs USD 6 billion: top official

Khartoum, Feb 17 (AFP) The economic recovery of Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur needs an estimated USD 6 billion, the region's top official said today, appealing for international support 10 years after an insurrection began. Eltigani Seisi made the comments in an interview with AFP ahead of an April 7-8 donors' conference in Qatar. Analysts are sceptical that major funds will be forthcoming. "If the international community refrains from providing support then how could we be able to stabilise the situation on the ground?" Seisi said. "And how could the people of Darfur have dividends for peace?" His comments came after United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reported in January that a 2011 armistice deal has yet to bring "concrete peace dividends" for the neediest in Darfur, where 1.4 million live in camps for people displaced by years of fighting. Sudan's government signed the peace deal in Doha, Qatar, with an alliance of rebel splinter factions but major insurgent groups rejected the pact. Seisi heads the Darfur Regional Authority set up to implement the Doha agreement. (AFP) KUN 02172034 NNNN