Mr. Chair, the hon. member asked a question in reference to the food aid that was given. She said it has gone down from $20 million to $5 million. I wish to correct this and say that CIDA has pledged $90 million in assistance to Sudan. This assistance is allocated as follows: $40 million in food aid and non-food aid, including 60%, which is $24 million in assistance to Sudan. Out of the $40 million, $26.7 million was dispersed in 2005 and 2006. Today, the minister of CIDA announced an additional $10 million for humanitarian food assistance to the region.
This is what I would like to ask the member about, though. Today there is another crisis brewing next door to Darfur, in Chad, which is west of Darfur. If we are not careful, in Chad we could have another humanitarian crisis that would have a major impact. That is why it is critically important that we work with the African Union, have it take the lead and give it all our assistance in order for it to be there when this crisis takes place.
I would agree that it has not happened so far, but Canada has already committed. Canada has supplied helicopters. Canada has supplied vehicles. Canada has supplied fuel. Now we are looking at working with the AU to have it bring in the UN forces that will work with the African Union. In the long term, Canada has already pledged to the African Union to form that rapid deployment the hon. member is talking about.
Therefore, yes, Canada is doing something over there, but we need to be very careful that we solve the problem, that we do not put in place a band-aid solution, because if we try a band-aid in Darfur we may have another crisis the country next door, in Chad. I would like to hear what she has to say about that.