Sudan Gains Australian Aid for Referendum

Australia will provide 9 million Australian dollars (USD8.7 million) to support Sudan’s referendum on the possible seccession of the South.

Of the amount, 3 million Australian dollars will go to the United Nations Development Program’s Referendum Basket Fund for voter registration and training for domestic observers. Some 1 million Australian dollars will help the International Organization for Migration to conduct out-of-country voting, while 5 million Australian dollars will be used to provide education and health services to women and children in southern Sudan through UNICEF and the U.N. Population Fund.

The referendum is scheduled for January 2011.