Oxfam has welcomed confirmation from Germany that its $680 million donation to the tsunami relief appeal is "new" money that has not been diverted from other crises. Oxfam is concerned that other donors, including the US ($350m), Japan ($500m), the UK ($96m), the World Bank ($250m), Norway ($181m), the EU ($529m) and Australia ($815m), may instead be "borrowing" from aid pledged to other crises including to the Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, or from money otherwise earmarked from development budgets.
In a new report published today, Oxfam calls on donors to give guarantees at the UN donors' conference in Geneva tomorrow (Tues 11th) that their $4 billion worth of promises to help countries rebuild after the tsunami disaster are made up of new money. The international community should also agree a moratorium on debt repayments to affected countries and the removal of trade tariffs on imports of textiles and clothing to the EU and US, especially from Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
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