Sudan is plunging “into death and destruction” at an “unprecedented” speed, UN Secretary-General António Guterres denounced on Monday at the opening of a conference to raise funds to respond to the humanitarian crisis.
“Without strong international support, Sudan could quickly become a place of anarchy, which causes insecurity throughout the region”, warned Mr. Guterres, when two months of conflict have already claimed more than 2,000 lives and more of 2.2 million displaced persons and refugees.
The United Nations has launched two appeals to donors to deal with the crisis: humanitarian aid in Sudan itself and aid for refugees in host countries. They total $3 billion this year, but are less than 17% funded so far.
Many UN emergency aid officials have pointed out that for Ukraine, funds were disbursed quickly, within weeks of the Russian invasion.
These donors have been much more timorous for Sudan, despite an already acute humanitarian crisis long before the current clashes between the army, commanded by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo.
The Geneva donors’ conference aims to relaunch calls for donations for this country.
“The situation in Darfur and Khartoum is catastrophic. Fighting is raging with people attacked in their homes and on the streets,” Mr. Guterres said.
“Before this conflict broke out, Sudan was already in the grip of a humanitarian crisis. This has now turned into a disaster affecting more than half of the country’s population… It is crucial to prevent the situation from deteriorating further”, recalls the UN boss.
The Secretary General believed that the only way to end the crisis was to return to peace and restore civilian rule.
The donors’ conference is co-hosted by the UN humanitarian agency and its High Commissioner for Refugees alongside Egypt, which hosts many refugees, Germany, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as well as the African Union and the European Union.