The Norwegian government said it is appalled by the “extreme” human suffering in Sudan and called for an end to the war that has town the country’s social fabric and threatened its very existence. Continue reading A year into Sudan war, Norway urges end to ‘unimaginable tragedy’
Category: News
France hosts Sudan conference a year into ‘forgotten’ war
France is hosting an international conference on Sudan on Monday, exactly a year after war broke out in the northeast African country, leading to a humanitarian and political crisis.
France is seeking contributions from the international community, and attention to what officials say is a crisis crowded out of the global conversation by ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.
A ministerial meeting on political matters is to be accompanied by talks about the humanitarian situation in Sudan, which organisers said would include dozens of representatives of Sudan’s civil society.
“The idea is to move this crisis up to the top of the agenda,” said Christophe Lemoine, a spokesman for the French foreign ministry.
“We cannot let Sudan become a forgotten crisis,” he added.
In addition to humanitarian issues, officials said there were also political dangers, such as the possible break-up of Sudan into splinter states.
Sudan is experiencing “one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory” and “the largest internal displacement crisis in the world”, the United Nations said recently.
Aid workers say a year of war between rival generals that broke out on April 15, 2023 has led to a catastrophe, but the world has turned away from the country of 48 million.
“The civilians here are enduring starvation, mass sexual violence, large-scale ethnic killing, and executions,” said Will Carter, Sudan country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council.
“Millions more are displaced, and yet the world continues to look the other way.”
An estimated 1.8 million people have fled Sudan — many to neighbouring Chad, now also suffering a humanitarian crisis — and 6.7 million have been internally displaced.
Only five percent of the 3.8-billion-euro ($4.1 billion) target in the UN’s latest humanitarian appeal has been funded so far this year, according to the French foreign ministry.
“We don’t have the ambition to cover the whole sum, but we have hope that the international community wakes up,” said one ministry official.
The ministerial meeting, behind closed doors, notably brings together representatives from Sudan’s neighbours, as well as from Gulf nations and western powers, including the United States and Britain, along with regional organisations and the UN.
Meanwhile, actors from Sudan’s civil society, including activists, unionists and journalists, will get together to discuss “a possible peace process, and what happens after the war”, an official said.
Laetitia Bader, at NGO Human Rights Watch, said she hoped that the conference would deliver “a very tough message” to the belligerents, including threats of sanctions.
The warring parties had blocked access for humanitarian assistance, pillaged foreign financial aid and targeted humanitarian workers in attacks, she said.
“This conference is very important, but it should not become an excuse to turn the page and forget about Sudan, again,” she added.
Middle-East on ‘brink of war’, warns UN Chief after Iran attack on Israel
The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has told the UN Security Council Monday that the Middle-East is on the brink of war after Iran attack on Israel.
“step back from the brink”, says UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, after Iran’s attack on Israel late on Saturday
He tells the UN security council that people in the Middle East face the danger of a devastating full-scale conflict.
Meanwhile, the BBC quoted UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron as saying Iran suffered a “double defeat” after its attack failed and it showed its true nature to the world.
Cameron says now is the time to de-escalate and urges Israel to think with “its head, not its heart”
Tehran launched more than 300 projectiles at Israel, in what it said was retaliation to an earlier strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus
It is unclear how Israel plans to respond, but war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has said it will “exact a price” for Iran’s attack when the timing is right
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