Brussels 15.04.2024 A civil war has devastated Sudan and pushed people to the brink of famine. Top diplomats and aid groups met today in Paris to enhance humanitarian support to prevent further deterioration.

“A year ago, we were coordinating the carousel of planes from different European countries evacuating our nationals. We left and since then it seems, as Annalena said, that we have forgotten them. Well, they don’t make the headlines anyway” said the EU top diplomat Josep Borrell, while addressing Paris conference.

“Sudan is home to the world’s largest displacement crisis, unlike any other.

“There are eight million displaced people, with an absolute humanitarian emergency. We have a lot of humanitarian emergencies, but this one is absolute. Half of the country’s population, around 18 million people, are at risk of starvation.

“We would not be here today if two generals, Generals Burhan and Hemedti, had not pushed the entire country to the brink.

“We are once again seeing the humanitarian catastrophe that we saw in Darfur many years ago.

“Darfur, once again, is the epicenter of a terrible humanitarian crisis, caused by the ambition for power of two warlords: Generals Burhan and Hemedti.

“So, [faced with] this situation, this Conference, dear Minister, is very good, because this Conference is going to do a certain number of things, tasks.

“The first: continue – because we are doing it but we must do it even more – to push the warring parties to commit to a cessation of hostilities. And only international pressure can do that. Because each of them thinks they can win the war [and] they will continue to fight it unless international pressure prevents them from doing so.

“Then, there needs to be a humanitarian truce. It’s a word we use a lot these days. A humanitarian truce to allow aid workers to operate without hindrance.

“We will also have to think about demanding responsibilities, including through the application of sanctions against those who act against the prospects for peace.

“We will need to strengthen coordination in terms of mediation, because we have seen that over the past year, there are many initiatives which are multiplying but which are fragmenting. There are many, but they are not coordinated. We leave too much room for maneuver for the belligerents to bargain and procrastinate while taking advantage of the fact that they have different interlocutors.

“And then, we need the commitment of civil society. And there, the European Union can do a lot, by helping Sudanese civilian actors to exert their voice against the belligerents. Civilian voices are essential to shaping a political process.

“In summary, Sudan and its people need to be mobilized as quickly and completely as possible.

“Words, we have already said a lot. We must now increase the speed and intensity of our operational engagement”.

Sudan descended into conflict in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum and elsewhere across the country.

Members of Sudan’s civil society and local NGOs will be involved in the Paris meeting, but neither the Sudanese army nor its rival the RSF will be represented.

The U.N. humanitarian campaign needs some $2.7 billion this year to get food, health care and other supplies to 24 million people in Sudan – nearly half its population of 51 million. So far, funders have given only $145 million, about 5%, according to the U.N’s humanitarian office, known as OCHA.