Military

DATE=8/5/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=BUSH/SUDAN (S-O)

NUMBER=2-318051

BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS

DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE

CONTENT=

HEADLINE: Bush Approves Money To Aid Darfur Refugees

INTRO: President Bush has approved 95-million-dollars of humanitarian assistance for refugees displaced by violence in western Sudan. From the White House, Correspondent Scott Stearns has the story.

TEXT: President Bush says recent history has shown that threats to America can emerge from failing states half a world away.

By acting early to end a crisis, he says, the United States can make the world safer. That's why, he says, he has included 95-million-dollars of new humanitarian assistance for refugees displaced by violence in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

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"Brutal militias there are causing human suffering on an immense scale. The new funding will provide famine relief, assistance for refugees and other humanitarian aid. Yet, no amount of aid can substitute for true and lasting peace. The government of Sudan must stop the violence of the Janjaweed militias, and all parties must respect the cease-fire and allow the free movement of humanitarian workers and supplies."

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The Bush administration says the government in Khartoum is backing the Arab militiamen responsible for the violence. Sudan says it has nothing to do with the displacement of more than one-million people, and organized a demonstration against the United Nations Wednesday to protest the threat of U.N. sanctions, if Sudan does not stop the violence. (SIGNED)

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