2024-04-15 10:58:44
A humanitarian conference on Sudan opened Monday in Paris with the desire to “break the silence” surrounding the “forgotten” war which has been taking place for barely a year in this African country, to raise more than a billion euros in donations and to coordinate mediation to end the conflict.
“For a year, the Sudanese have been victims of a terrible war (…) which produces only chaos and suffering,” lamented French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné. “The Sudanese are also victims of forgetfulness and indifference,” he continued.
“This is the purpose of our meetings today: to break the silence surrounding this conflict and to mobilize the international community,” also declared the head of French diplomacy.
From the opening of the meeting, co-chaired by France, Germany and the European Union, more than 840 million were announced, including 110 million by Paris, 244 by Berlin, 350 by Brussels and 138 by Washington.
The conference is divided into three parts: a political part with the participation mainly of ambassadors and foreign ministers (South Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya, Chad among others), a humanitarian part to collect donations and a meeting of around forty members of Sudanese civil society.
German Minister Annalena Baerbock noted that this conference was being held while eyes remained focused on the situation in the Middle East after Iran’s attack on Israel on Saturday evening.
However, the international community must not turn away from the war in Sudan which has caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, she stressed, referring to the “unspeakable suffering” and the feeling of abandonment of the Sudanese, victims of the war. that “two ruthless generals” are leading each other.
The multiple mediation initiatives have remained ineffective, she continued, calling “to work towards better coordination” and urging the international community to “act in concert to bring the belligerents to the negotiating table and achieve a ceasefire.” -fire”.
“Only international pressure” will be able to push the belligerents to negotiate, added the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell.
And there is an urgent need to act as Sudan “is collapsing”, underlined for his part the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Janez Lenarcic, pointing out the risk of destabilization of the entire Horn of Africa, the war having forced many Sudanese to move.
More than 3.4 million people are in “urgent” need of a humanitarian response in Chad, according to Action Against Hunger (ACF), a consequence of the massive influx of refugees fleeing the war in Sudan.
The war in Sudan 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.
“Civilians are suffering from famine, massive sexual violence, large-scale ethnic massacres and executions. (…) Yet the world continues to look elsewhere,” despairs Will Carter, the director in Sudan of the Norwegian Refugee Council .
The hope of an international “awakening”
“Today marks a turning point in shame for the warring parties in Sudan, as well as for the international community who allowed this catastrophe to worsen,” continued Will Carter in a press release.
While 25 million people, or half of the country’s population, need aid, Jean Stowell, head of mission for Doctors Without Borders in Sudan, denounces “an extremely worrying humanitarian void”.
“In addition to deaths linked to violence, we see children dying from malnutrition and lack of vaccines, women suffering complications after dangerous births,” he said in a statement.
“Last year the United Nations humanitarian appeal was only half funded. This year, only 5%” of the 3.8 billion euros requested, points out the Quai d’Orsay. “We do not claim to reach them in Paris but we are hopeful that the international community will wake up.”
Deputy director of the Africa division of the NGO Human Rights Watch, Laetitia Bader calls for “a very harsh message” and international sanctions against the belligerents, who have “prevented the humanitarian response”, “massively looted aid ” and planned “killings of humanitarians”, in addition to numerous abuses against civilians.
1713184590
#Meeting #Paris #international #community #urges #forget #Sudan #TV5MONDE