20110218
Xinhua
NAIROBI, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan government on Thursday approved the sending of 80 civil servants to southern Sudan in a bid to help if an independent country is established following last month referendum.

A statement issued after a cabinet meeting in Nairobi said Kenya, which hosted the protracted peace negotiations that led for the signing of a landmark peace agreement in Nairobi in 2005, will increase its technical cooperation program to southern Sudan from 3.5 million dollars to 5 million dollars over a three-year period.

"The meeting also approved the secondment of 80 Kenyan civil servants to the government of Southern Sudan, under the IGAD Initiative project, partly funded by UNDP," the statement said. The East African nation made the pledge for the donation in 2005 when donors from across the world met in Oslo, Norway to commit money for reconstruction of the region that had just emerged from a 20-year civil war.

Kenya is also training southern Sudan civil servants in various Kenyan colleges and given attachment opportunities for on-the-job training in institutions with links to the government.