U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick will travel to Sudan next week following a donor's conference in Oslo to raise money for the war ravaged country. During the gathering in Oslo, Zoellick will announce a "significant financial commitment" for reconstruction and humanitarian assistance and will push for the implementation of the North-South peace agreement, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday. The Oslo conference is set for Monday and Tuesday. After that, Zoellick will head to Sudan to meetings with senior leaders and will travel to various parts of the country. "The deputy secretary will emphasize the need for the Sudanese parties to move ahead with the implementation of the peace accord as well as to end the violence in Darfur," Boucher said. Darfur, where a separate conflict from the North-South civil war has been waged for two years, claiming 170,000 lives and sending millions fleeing. Darfur has been a focus of the international community and the United States in trying to end the fighting and bring those responsible for atrocities to justice. The U.S. has called the killings "genocide". During the last three years the United States has committed more than 1.6 billion dollars to Sudan for humanitarian assistance, conflict resolution in Darfur, reconstruction and development, and to support the North-South peace accord. ---SP 2258 Local Time 1958 GMT
