The European Union announced on Monday a 166 million euros ($196.9 million) aid package for 10 African countries, saying the continent's poorest nations must be remembered on the first anniversary of the tsunami in Asia.
"Today we remember the victims of the tsunami in south east Asia. But millions of vulnerable people in Africa are exposed to natural disasters like droughts, floods and insect infestations as well as armed conflicts," EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said in a statement. "These are silent tsunamis. Many of these catastrophes do not hit the headlines in the Western media but they still lead to great suffering," he added.
The aid, which will be made available mainly in 2006 by the executive European Commission, will go to Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Chad, Tanzania, Uganda, Liberia, the Ivory Coast, Madagascar and Comoros.