RIYADH, 24 January 2005 — Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, president of the Youth Welfare Presidency and the Saudi Football Federation, has ordered that the proceeds of the matches of the Kingdom’s first national football team in the Asian elimination round of the 2006 World Cup be donated to the tsunami victims in Asian countries, SPA reported yesterday.
The matches will be held in the Kingdom and participants include the national teams of Kuwait, Uzbekistan and South Korea.
Mohammed ibn Hammam Al-Abdullah, president of the Asian Football Confederation, thanked Prince Sultan for the noble gesture.
Al-Abdullah said that the new gesture follows Prince Nawaf ibn Faisal’s announcement of an SR1 million donation by Saudi sportsmen for the tsunami victims as well as the contribution of $500,000 for Palestinian sports.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia had announced $30 million worth of assistance to the countries devastated by the tsunami catastrophe in South Asia together with over $80 million realized from the telethon.
Relief supplies are being transported and distributed by the Saudi Red Crescent.
The Saudi effort supplements the UN move resulting in the launch of the largest relief operation in recent history to assist the victims.
Saudi Arabia is offering Indonesia five of its aircraft to be used in the tsunami relief operation and has pledged $100 million in aid, a Jakarta report said yesterday. “The assistance in the operation of the country’s aircraft for Aceh could be provided if the Indonesian government approves it,” a news agency quoted a Saudi Red Crescent official as saying.
He also said the Kingdom would provide a total of $100 million in humanitarian aid. An amount of $30 million of the funds will be immediately handed over while the remaining has been collected from the people of Saudi Arabia, he said.
Saudi Arabia, he said, will immediately discuss another aid package for Aceh.
In Sri Lanka, where two-thirds of the island state was devasted by tsunami, eight model Saudi camps are to be set up, especially in the Muslim areas of the country.
