France hosts conference on aid to war-torn Sudan
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France is hosting an international conference on Sudan on Monday, April 15, exactly a year after war broke out in the northeast African country, leading to a humanitarian and political crisis. Sudan is experiencing “one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory” and “the largest internal displacement crisis in the world,” the United Nations said recently.
France is seeking contributions from the international community, and attention to what officials say is a crowded crisis out of the global conversation by ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. “The idea is to move this crisis up to the top of the agenda,” said Christophe Lemoine, a spokesperson for the French foreign ministry. “We cannot let Sudan become a forgotten crisis,” he added.
A ministerial meeting on political matters is to be accompanied by talks about the humanitarian situation in Sudan, which organizers said would include dozens of representatives of Sudan’s civil society. In addition to humanitarian issues, officials said there were also political dangers, such as the possible break-up of Sudan into split states.
The ministerial meeting, behind closed doors, notably brings together representatives from Sudan’s neighbors, as well as from Gulf nations and Western powers, including the United States and Britain, along with regional organizations and the UN. Meanwhile, actors from Sudan’s civil society, including activists, unionists and journalists, will get together to discuss “a possible peace process, and what happens after the war,” an official said.
Aid workers say a year of war between rival generals that broke out on April 15, 2023 has led to a catastrophe, but the world has turned away from the country of 48 million inhabitants.
The UN humanitarian campaign needs some $2.7 billion this year to get food, health care and other supplies to 24 million people in Sudan – nearly half its population of 51 million. So far, funders have given only $145 million, about 5%, according to the UN’s humanitarian office, known as OCHA. “We don’t have the ambition to cover the whole sum, but we have hope that the international community wakes up,” said one French foreign ministry official.
At least 37% of the population at crisis level or above suffer from hunger, according to OCHA. Save the Children warned that about 230,000 children, pregnant women and newborn mothers could die of malnutrition in the coming months. Nearly 9 million people have been forced to flee their homes either to safer areas inside Sudan or to neighboring countries, according to the United Nations.
The military, headed by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have carved up Khartoum and trade indiscriminate fire at each other. In 2021, Burhan and Dagalo were easy allies who led a military coup. They topped an internationally recognized civilian government that was supposed to steer Sudan’s democratic transition.
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