Darfur crisis overshadows Sudan aid conference

DONORS promised $4.5 billion (€3.5bn) yesterday to help Sudan recover after Africa's longest civil war, but Washington told Khartoum to end atrocities in Darfur or risk a slide "back into the depths".

"Participants at this conference have pledged $4.5bn for 2005-07," Norwegian Development Minister Hilde Frafjord Johnson told delegates at the end of a two-day conference in Oslo attended by 60 nations.

The final total was up from a figure of $2.6bn (€2bn) Ms Johnson had given earlier in the day.