The international community pledged on Monday to provide more than two billion euros to provide humanitarian aid to Sudan, one year to the day after the outbreak of a devastating conflict for the inhabitants of this northeastern country of Africa.
The donation pledges were made in Paris, during an international conference concluded by President Emmanuel Macron.
“In total, more than two billion euros will be mobilized in favor of the men and women of Sudan”, victims of a conflict “which has caused one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world”, declared the head of the ‘State.
In detail, the European Union should pay 350 million euros, France 110 million euros and the American envelope reaches 147 million dollars.
Germany announced the payment of 244 million euros through its Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock.
“We can succeed together in avoiding a terrible famine, but only if we act now,” declared the latter at the opening of the conference alongside her French counterpart, Stéphane Séjourné, head of EU diplomacy. European Union, Josep Borrell, and the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic.
“Twenty-seven million Sudanese, or half the population, need humanitarian aid, nearly 15 million of them are children, 18 million are in a situation of acute food insecurity,” detailed Stéphane Séjourné .
Diplomatic efforts have so far failed to end Sudan’s civil war, which pits Khartoum against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Thousands of civilians were killed, according to figures difficult to establish, and both sides were accused of war crimes.
The conflict has brought millions of people to the brink of famine, caused massive population displacements, triggered ethnic massacres and sexual violence in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
“War crimes will not go unpunished,” said Emmanuel Macron, who also addressed regional powers who finance the parties to the conflict in Sudan.
“The belligerents and their supporters are responsible for the continuation of the fighting,” he insisted.
In a joint statement, 14 countries and several organizations such as the African Union, the Arab League and the European Union “urge all foreign actors to stop providing armed support or equipment to the parties to the conflict and to “refrain from any action that would exacerbate tensions and fuel conflict.”
“We call on all regional and international actors to fully support a consolidated peace initiative in favor of Sudan,” we also read.
The belligerents were not invited to the Paris conference, where members of Sudanese civil society gathered at the Arab World Institute.
On Friday, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, close to the army, protested.
“We must remind organizers that the international trusteeship system was abolished decades ago,” he wrote in a statement.
On Saturday near El Fasher, Darfur, local activists reported that 40,000 people had been forced to flee after an attack by RSF and allied militias burned villages, killing at least 11 people.
The next day, the same sources reported fighting and airstrikes in the city, which left nine people dead and 60 injured.
This article is originally published on boursier.com
