EU pledges over €900 million for Sudan, calls for war not to be ‘forgotten’

International donors committed on Monday (15 April) to spend more than €2 billion in humanitarian support in Sudan – €900 million of which will come from the EU and its member states – and better coordinate efforts to secure a sustainable ceasefire.

The efforts at the International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan in Paris come a year to the day since the start of a civil war that has cost the lives of thousands and threatened millions with famine.

Some 15,000 people have died since the war broke out in April 2023, as rival branches of the country’s army went for an all-out confrontation, especially in the country’s capital, Khartoum.

Close to 18 million Sudanese civilians are faced with acute food insecurity, European Commission figures show. There are at least 7.1 million internally displaced people, while the country’s GDP has dropped by 25% in the past six months, according to civil society organisations.

Spearheaded by France, Germany, and the EU, the international forum sought to bring the conflict back to the forefront of media attention, as it is set to become the world’s largest hunger crisis.

French President Emmanuel Macron called it “one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world” which has created a ‘’real risk of famine.”

The EU’s Crisis Commissioner Janez Lenarcic warned that the people of Sudan, “caught up in this emergency, are almost completely invisible”, adding it was “our duty not to look away.”

The pressure to secure more humanitarian funds is more acute than ever, with only 5% of the UN’s €3.86 billion response plan to support Sudan and neighbouring countries having been financed up to the conference, the international organisation warned.

The newly pledged money would bring total international support to about half of the UN’s estimated needs.

‘Neglect and indifference’

The war has fallen into “neglect and indifference,” France’s Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné told reporters earlier on Monday as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, more recently, the Israel-Gaza war, have taken over the world’s attention.

Macron also pointed the finger at the “terrible cynicism” of the regional powers – Iran, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates – in financing rebel groups as part of a proxy war, and called on them to end all such funding.

“Only the belligerents can put this conflict to an end […] and I want to appeal to a sense of responsibility,” he added.

The EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said next steps by the international community should involve securing a sustained ceasefire, making sure that humanitarian convoys can reach those in need, and supporting a democratic transition of power.

“We need to continue (…) to push the warring parties to commit to a cessation of hostilities and only international pressure can do that,” Borrell said.

“We will also have to think about demanding responsibilities, including through the application of sanctions against those who act against the prospects for peace,” he added.

The UK and Canada also announced on Monday they had imposed sanctions against a number of businessmen they claimed were funding military groups involved in the conflict.

NGOs, which have led the fight for more financial resources and better access into Khartoum to aid the local population welcomed the pledges but Kevin Goldberg, director of the NGO Solidarités International, told reporters it was “way below the UN’s $4.1 billion plan”.

“Diplomatic pressure must continue against the belligerents” so as to get more humanitarian help into the country, he added.

The UN’s Special Envoy for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, pleaded for the international community “not to abdicate in the face of those who have chosen armed violence rather than diplomacy in Sudan […] notwithstanding other global challenges”.

Arif Noor, Sudan country director for Save the Children, an international NGO, pointed that the amount of money raised for Sudan “in the first 105 days of 2024… is less than a fifth of what was pledged in just two days to rebuild the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris”.

[Edited by Alexandra Brzozowski/Zoran Radosavljevic]

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