Donor countries pledged a preliminary $4.8 billion in assistance to Sudan on Wednesday, aiming to help bolster a 2005 north-south peace deal in the east African country, a World Bank official said. Sudan had said it needs $6.1 billion up to 2011, on top of $2 billion in humanitarian aid.
"As we are tallying up the figures, it stands at $4.8 billion," Hartwig Schafer, a senior World Bank official, told the conference.