PM increases aid to Darfur by $40 million

Canada will immediately increase its aid to Darfur by $40 million, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Tuesday.

Harper said Canada will continue to provide humanitarian aid,which includesfood and water,and assistance building sanitation services, to the violence-plagued region in western Sudan.

He made no mention of whether Canada will provide peacekeeping troops, saying onlythat the governmentwill help the African Union implement the Darfur peace agreement and lay the ground work for a United Nationspeace mission.

A recentSecurity Council resolution stated that a UN force will take over the peacekeeping responsibilities from an under-equipped African Union mission.

The African Union has been unable to stop the violence that has claimed more than 180,000 livesduring thethree-year rebellion in Darfur.

Earlier this month, Harpersuggested that any help for Sudan would not includea major troop contribution.

Hesaid the situation in Darfur can't be changed overnight and that the important first step is to normalize and stabilize the area.

"Make no mistake,our government is well awarethis will be a long and arduous process," he said.

Harper's announcement comes as two new human-rights reports warn the violence in the region is getting worse.

In the past three years, Darfur has become a drought-plagued killing ground, forcing more than 2.5 million people to leave their homes in asearch for safety.

Fightingin the region began in February 2003, when rebels from black African tribes took up arms, complaining of discrimination and oppression by Sudan's Arab-dominated government.

Since then,accounts have surfaced of mass rapes and killings by Arab janjaweed militia members, who are rumoured to be getting support from the Sudanese government.