(VEE) ITALY SENDS AID TO SHIDIAB POPULATION IN SUDAN

(VELINO) Roma, 20 Jul - The Italian Development Cooperation Agency (AICS) has sent aid to Sudan as part of its efforts to synergise the Emergency and Agricultural Development programmes. AICS donated 100 tons of cement to Sudan to reconstruct the village of Shidiab in the Red Sea state, as well as 3000 pieces of agricultural equipment to the state's Ministry of Agriculture. Shidiab was largely destroyed last October by a violent flood that demolished 430 homes, around 40 percent of the village's total. The destruction was also worsened by Shidiab's position, as it was built within a depression that placed it at greater flood risk. The donation to the local community, of Beja ethnicity, took place in the presence of the Italian Ambassador to Sudan, Fabrizio Lobasso, who was visiting the state at the time. "Helping the most vulnerable groups is a fundamental prerogative of the Italian Cooperation's actions," Ambassador Lobasso said. "With this initiative, we are also further reinforcing the bases for a new collaboration on the field, as the villagers themselves will build their new village." The AICS will support the new settlement through its water distribution system and will also provide technical support during the reconstruction. This will be carried out in an adjacent and more elevated area to avoid the risk of new floods. The initiative constitutes the only example of urban resettlement in the entire Red Sea state, according to a modern model where decisions are made together with local communities. An array of agricultural equipment - tool sets and instruments for Mesquite eradication, pruning, haymaking, tillage, and seed trays - was donated to the Red Sea state's Ministry of Agriculture, within the framework of the Poverty Alleviation Project, in the presence of Governor Ali Ahmed Hamid, Minister Awadallah Ibrahim, and Ambassador Lobasso. "Higher quality equipment is vital to agricultural development in the Red Sea state. We thank the Italian government for this generous contribution," the governor affirmed. The donation will be followed by courses organised by the AICS on how to utilise the equipment. "Equipment and know-how must go hand in hand for gradual progress in the country," Ambassador Lobasso concluded. vel
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