Sudanese refugees in Northern Bahr El Ghazal. April 30, 2023. (Courtesy).

The United States government announced $203 million in additional urgent humanitarian assistance for Sudan on Thursday to alleviate food crisis in the country currently rocked by more than a year of deadly civil war.

The funding includes nearly $25 million from US international development agency USAID – and more than $178 million from the U.S. Department of State to support food, protection, health, nutrition, shelter, cash, and agriculture assistance, the agency said in a press statement

The funding will also help provide training and other support to small business owners, and market-based assistance for vulnerable people, including refugees and internally displaced persons.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced the funding following a meeting on Sudan at the U.S. Mission to the UN in New York.

“The scale of this crisis is overwhelming. But now is not a moment to throw up our hands. We must continue to fight for the people of Sudan,” she said, reading out a statement at the UN Security Council.

“These funds certainly go to those within Sudan, but they also help neighboring countries like Chad, and Egypt, South Sudan, and Ethiopia, which are taking in more and more asylum seekers and refugees every single day.”

The conflict between army under General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and Rapid Support Force (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, erupted in April 15, 2023, and has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Fighting continues daily in several parts of Sudan, with both sides accused of war crimes including the deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas and blocking humanitarian aid.

The U.S. funding announcement comes weeks after the release of a report projecting that 25.6 million people are in urgent need of food assistance in Sudan, including 755,000 people on the brink of starvation.

“Despite the ongoing obstruction of aid, humanitarian organizations continue to provide critical assistance throughout the country,” USAID said.

The development agency said the new funding will support U.S. partners inside of Sudan and in the neighboring countries to continue to scale up and sustain response capacity and to help avoid breaks in the delivery of life-saving relief for the most vulnerable.

It reiterated Washington’s backing of the people of Sudan and calls for other donors to step forward in the face of historic humanitarian needs.

USAID added that the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces must immediately return to the negotiating table to end this war that has caused so much suffering for the people of Sudan.