Paris Conference Draws International Attention to Sudan Crisis

Senior officials gathered in Paris on Monday, for an international humanitarian conference on Sudan, co-organized by France, Germany and the European Union.

RELATED:
Sudan: Guterres Urges Support in the Face of Conflict

At the opening of the meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron announce that the donors pledged to provide more than two billion euros ($2.13 billion), coinciding with the first anniversary of the start of the Sudan war, which turned into a “forgotten crisis.”

During a joint declaration, those gathered at the Paris conference called on “all foreign parties” to stop providing armed support to both sides of the year-long conflict in Sudan. 

14 countries, including Germany, France, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Chad, and international organizations such as the United Nations and the East African Development Authority (IGAD), called on “all regional and international parties to provide unreserved support for a unified peace initiative for the benefit of Sudan.”

The Paris meeting included a political panel at the ministerial level to try to find ways out of the conflict, and a humanitarian one aimed at mobilizing donations and providing huge aid to the war-torn country. It also included a meeting of about 40 figures from Sudanese civil society.

French Foreign Minister Stephane Ségornet said in his speech during the conference: “A year ago, the Sudanese found themselves victims of a terrible war that leaves nothing but chaos and suffering,” considering that “the Sudanese are victims of forgetfulness and indifference.”

Sigournet explained that the aim of the meeting was “to break the wall of silence surrounding this war, and to push the international community to take action.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said, “The international community must not avert its attention from the war in Sudan, which has caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis,” speaking of the “unspeakable suffering” of the Sudanese victims of the war of “two ruthless generals and their feeling that the world has abandoned them,” in A reference to the commander of the Sudanese army, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemedti.”

She added that multiple mediation initiatives “did not bear fruit,” calling on the international community to “work in coordination to bring the two warring parties to the negotiating table and reach a ceasefire.”

Annalena Baerbock spoke about the children of Sudan during today’s conference. She said, “What we are witnessing in Sudan is the worst child displacement crisis in the world.”

And yet, she said, “in many of our countries, as the war enters in its second year, it is practically absent from our daily news.” She added “Every life counts equally, whether in Ukraine, in Gaza, or in Sudan.”

For his part, European Union foreign policy official Josep Borrell said that only through “international pressure” can the warring parties be pushed to negotiate.

He said the war in Sudan “has triggered the worst humanitarian crisis in the world” and “we must put an end to this man-made disaster.” He also presented a five-point list of priorities, including reaching a humanitarian truce.

The non-governmental organization Action Against Hunger (Accion Contre La Van) stressed the need for “urgent” action in Chad to provide aid to refugees flowing across the border from neighboring Sudan.

In turn, the Director of Sudan at the Norwegian Refugee Council, William Carter, confirmed that “civilians are suffering from hunger, massive sexual violence, large-scale ethnic massacres, and executions, and yet the world continues to look the other way.”

While about 25 million people in Sudan, or about half of the population, need assistance, the head of the “Doctors Without Borders” mission, Jean Stowell, warned in a statement of “a very worrying humanitarian vacuum.”

He continued: “In addition to deaths related to acts of violence, we see children dying from malnutrition and lack of vaccines, and women suffering complications after dangerous births.”

The “donors” conference in Paris will seek to address the weakness of emergency funding in Sudan and neighboring countries, and the shortfall amounting to more than 2.5 billion dollars.