The European Commission (EC) has released an additional 15 million euros (18 million US dollars) in humanitarian aid to Sudan's Darfur region, the EC announced here on Friday.

The executive arm of the European Union (EU) said the funds were aimed at providing the victims of the "protracted crisis" in the region with food and nutritional support, shelter, access to clean water and sanitation, emergency health care and protection for vulnerable civilians.

"The European Commission is committed to providing humanitarian aid for Darfur as long as the needs remain, and we urge other donors to do likewise," EU humanitarian aid commissioner Louis Michel was quoted as saying by an EC press release.

"The (European) Commission insists that these returns be safe and voluntary, to ensure that Sudan stays on the path to peace," he added.

More than one third of the population of Darfur are affected by this protracted crisis, including 1.8 million people displaced in Sudan and 200,000 refugees in neighboring Chad.

According to the EC, a total of 152 million euros (182 million dollars) has been mobilized in the EC's humanitarian aid for Sudan since 2004.

Source: Xinhua