Germany Pledges $142M for Sudan on Eve of Aid Meet

Germany will provide 125 million euros ($142 million) in humanitarian aid for Sudan, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Monday, on the eve of an international conference on the situation in the war-torn country.

The funds will go towards helping international and local aid organisations to “bring urgently needed food and medicine to people in need” in Sudan and the wider region, Baerbock said in a statement.

Paramilitaries in Sudan known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been at war with the army since April 2023.

The conflict has essentially divided Sudan in two, with the army holding sway in the north and east, while the RSF controls most of Darfur and parts of the south.

The war has killed tens of thousands, uprooted more than 13 million and created what the International Rescue Committee has described as “the biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded.”

An international conference on the situation in Sudan will take place in London on Tuesday, co-hosted by Britain, Germany, France, the EU and the African Union, the German foreign ministry said.

The Sudanese army and the RSF militia were both unwilling to come to the table, according to the ministry.

“Death is an ever-present reality in large parts of Sudan,” Baerbock said, calling the conflict “the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of our time.”

“Entire regions have been destroyed, hundreds of thousands of families have been forced to flee, millions of people are starving, and women and children are being subjected to the most horrific sexual violence,” she said.

“The focus in London will therefore be on working with our African partners to identify options for unrestricted humanitarian access, protection of the civilian population and a political solution to this bloody conflict.”

Baerbock said the Gulf states would be among those represented at the meeting, calling on them to “use their influence… to establish humanitarian corridors.”

“Only joint international pressure will finally persuade the parties to the conflict to come to the negotiating table,” she added.