“In total, we can announce that more than 2 billion euros will be mobilized” for the Sudanese victims of a war which “produces only sorrow and suffering”, declared French President Emmanuel Macron, this Monday, April 15. Just 190 million engagements had been recorded before the conference, he said. Of the 2 billion, the member countries of the European Union will participate to the tune of 900 million euros, including 110 million for Paris, 244 by Berlin, or 350 by Brussels. Washington, for its part, has committed to donating 138 million euros.
“This support […] will make it possible to respond to the most urgent needs in the sectors of food and nutritional security, health, water, sanitation, education, protection of the most vulnerable,” said Emmanuel Macron. The United Nations, however, estimated the amount of aid needed for Sudan at $3.8 billion for 2024.
Fourteen countries, including Germany, France, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Chad, and the UN also adopted a joint declaration in which they call on “all foreign actors” to “cease to provide armed support or material to the parties to the conflict. “For a year, the Sudanese have been victims of a terrible war,” lamented earlier the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné.
The international community must react to ease the “unspeakable suffering” and the feeling of abandonment of the Sudanese, victims of the war waged by “two ruthless generals”, said its German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock. The multiple mediation initiatives have remained ineffective, she continued, calling “to work for better coordination” and to “act in concert to bring the belligerents to the negotiating table and achieve a ceasefire “.
“Crimes against humanity”
From the United Nations, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres spoke of probable “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” committed by both parties. War broke out on April 15, 2023 between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and those of Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, his former deputy and commander of the rapid support paramilitary forces. “Only international pressure” will push the belligerents to negotiate, added the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell.
“Beyond financing, we must put pressure so that there is an immediate ceasefire because if we continue like this, in a year, Sudan risks disintegrating,” warned the head of Chadian diplomacy Mahamat, Saleh Annadif. And the risk is to destabilize the entire Horn of Africa, the war having pushed many Sudanese to take refuge in neighboring countries.
More than 3.4 million people are in “urgent” need of a humanitarian response in Chad, according to Action Against Hunger (ACF). The food crisis in Sudan could be “the biggest ever known”, warned the executive director of the World Food Program (WFP), Cindy McCain, in an interview with AFP. In addition to starvation, civilians are victims of “massive sexual violence, large-scale ethnic massacres and executions,” lamented Will Carter, the Sudan director of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Sanctions
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, warned of a further escalation of violence, as parties to the conflict arm civilians and more armed groups join in combat. “The recruitment and use of children by parties to the conflict is also of great concern,” he also said.
While 25 million people, or half of the Sudanese population, need aid, Jean Stowell, head of mission of Doctors Without Borders in Sudan, denounces “an extremely worrying humanitarian void”. Deputy director of the Africa division of the NGO Human Rights Watch, Laetitia Bader calls for sanctions against the belligerents, who have “prevented the humanitarian response”, “massively looted aid” and planned “killings of humanitarian”, in addition to numerous abuses against civilians. On Monday, the United Kingdom announced new sanctions targeting companies that support the belligerents.