Donors Pledge $2.1B for Sudan Famine   04/16 06:14

   

   (AP) -- World donors pledged more than $2.1 billion in humanitarian aid for 
Sudan after a yearlong war that has pushed its population to the brink of 
famine, French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday.

   Macron spoke at the end of an international conference in Paris aimed at 
drumming up support for Sudan's 51 million people. The aid will go to food, 
water, medicines and other urgent needs, he said, without providing a specific 
timeline.

   Top diplomatic envoys, U.N. officials and aid agencies urged Sudan's warring 
parties to stop attacks on civilians and allow access for humanitarian aid, and 
called for immediate international mediation efforts toward peace. Members of 
Sudan's civil society took part in the Paris meeting, but neither the Sudanese 
army nor its rival paramilitary were represented.

   Sudan descended into conflict in April last year when simmering tensions 
between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into 
open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere across the country.

   "Much of the world has been focused on the crisis that was generated in the 
Middle East. As concerning as those developments are, other dramatic 
life-and-death emergencies are being pushed into the shadows," United Nations 
Secretary-General Antnio Guterres told reporters after the Security Council 
met on Sudan on Monday.

   "The world is forgetting about the people of Sudan," he said.

   The United Nations' 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. So far, funders have given only $145 million, about 
5%, according to the U.N's humanitarian office, known as OCHA.

   After Monday's conference, Macron said, ''We are today at 2 billion euros 
($2.1 billion) for Sudan.'' Of that, some 900 million euros comes from EU 
countries, he said.

   Monday's conference among 58 countries also called on regional powers to 
stop funding Sudan's war. Without naming them, Macron said, ''The amount we 
raised today remains probably less than all the money raised by several 
powers'' to wage a proxy conflict in Sudan.

   More than 14,000 people have been killed and at least 33,000 have been 
wounded in the yearlong war. Nearly 9 million people have been forced to flee 
their homes either to safer areas inside Sudan or to neighboring countries, 
according to the U.N. Hunger, sexual violence against women and girls and 
continued displacement are rampant and much of the country's infrastructure -- 
homes, hospitals and schools -- has been reduced to rubble.

   "We cannot let this nightmare slide from view," Guterres said in a video 
message to the Paris conference.

   "It's time to support the Sudanese people. It's time to silence the guns," 
he added.

   French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said the aim of the conference was 
to mobilize humanitarian funding to help Sudanese people, who have been victims 
of both a "terrible war" and "international indifference."

   The European Union's crisis management commissioner, Janez Lenarcic, said 
the 27-member bloc wants to ensure that Sudan is not forgotten as wars in Gaza 
and Ukraine dominate the international news.

   "People of Sudan, caught up in this emergency, are almost completely 
invisible," Lenarcic said. Sudan has turned into one of the worst humanitarian 
disasters ever on the African continent, he said, and added: "It is our duty 
not to look away."

   President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mirjana Spoljaric 
warned that humanitarian action is increasingly politicized in Sudan and 
humanitarian workers are risking their lives to get vital aid to people.

   "Securing a military advantage cannot be pursued regardless of the human 
cost," Spoljaric said.

   The United States and Saudi Arabia initially led efforts to find a 
negotiated way out of the conflict. But since October the fighting has been 
overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which is threatening to expand 
into a broader regional conflict.

   Relief workers, meanwhile, warn that Sudan is hurtling towards potential 
mass death in the coming months. Food production and distribution networks have 
broken down and aid agencies are unable to reach the worst-stricken regions.

   The conflict has also been marked by widespread reports of atrocities 
including killings, displacement and rape, particularly in the area of the 
capital and the western region of Darfur.

   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.

   "Famine is a reality in Sudan," said Abdallah al-Dardari, a regional 
director of the U.N. Development Program.

   The military, headed by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by 
Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have carved up Khartoum and trade indiscriminate 
fire at each other. In 2021, Burhan and Dagalo were uneasy allies who led a 
military coup. They toppled an internationally recognized civilian government 
that was supposed to steer Sudan's democratic transition.