As I said, Mr. Chair I agree wholeheartedly. If the African Union can help resolve this conflict, we should invest money, station peacekeeping troops and enforce the arms embargo. We need these measures now. We must keep pressing for those who have committed crimes to be punished. There are dozens of measures to put in place.
We must also loosen the purse strings. I heard that a member from Quebec, who is in charge of CIDA, announced an additional $20 million. The numbers I was given yesterday mention that Canada contributed $24 million last year and $450,000 this year. We have to contribute cash; we have to dig deep for Darfur, northern Sudan and southern Sudan, because it is not over yet. We have to show that we can resolve these issues and help people find peace and security. This is a major challenge.
I would like to add that we have spoken of Darfur at far greater length than we did the Congo. There were 3 million deaths in the Congo, not 200,000. One of the positive effects of this conflict is that we are finally turning our attention to Africa. We have discussed Africa in the context of NEPAD, but this is not enough.
When I was teaching history several years ago, a famous French agrologist said that black Africa had gotten off to a bad start. And the end of its journey is no better than the beginning. But there are positive experiences and we must absolutely make massive investments so that countries can get back on their feet.
We did not talk about oil, we talked about the Chinese. Nevertheless, I recall that in this House I repeatedly asked the government in power about Talisman Energy. This Canadian company paid significant royalties to the Government of Sudan, which used them to wage war. Not in Darfur, but in southern Sudan. Fortunately, peace has been achieved since then, although the leader of the south is dead, and I hope that Sudan will be able to remain--