Nearly $1.5 billion in relief promises from international donors were made on Monday for Sudan and the surrounding area, covering about half of the estimated need for a deteriorating humanitarian catastrophe that has displaced 2.2 million people.
The fight between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has caused huge displacement in the country’s other regions as well as deadly, recurrent attacks in the western area of Darfur.
While violence in Khartoum has lessened since Sunday due to a 72-hour ceasefire, residents said that looting increased as the fighting did, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) claimed that gunfire had delayed the evacuation of injured soldiers to hospitals.
Residents of El Geneina, the most severely affected city in Darfur, have reportedly been trying to flee Arab militia attacks but face death, rape, or incarceration as they attempt to cross the border into Chad on foot, according to witnesses and humanitarian workers.
Germany, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, and the United Nations organised a fundraising conference in Geneva to solicit donations for humanitarian efforts that have been impeded by ceasefire violations, looting, and administrative restrictions.
Nearly $1.5 billion in pledges were made by donors, according to Martin Griffiths, the head of the U.N.’s relief operations, though it wasn’t immediately apparent if all of the funds were new or when they would be distributed.
That included $171 million from the United States and 200 million euros ($218 million) from Germany. Qatar pledged $50 million, and the European Union claimed to have committed 190 million euros.
“This crisis will require sustained financial support and I hope that we can all keep Sudan at the top of our priorities,” Griffiths said.
USAID chief Samantha Power said the U.S. had contributed more than half the funding for Sudan, which she described as unsustainable.
“The funds pledged today fail to meet the urgency of the situation,” said David Macdonald, of humanitarian agency CARE.
In the middle of April, tensions over a plan for a transition to elections under a civilian government that had international support erupted, sparking a battle between the opposing military factions.
According to Sudan’s health minister, it has resulted in more than 3,000 fatalities and 6,000 injuries, while humanitarian workers and witnesses claim that many more deaths are unaccounted for.
Saudi Arabia and the US met in Jeddah for negotiations that resulted in the truce that started on Sunday. It is the most recent in a string of cease-fire agreements that have permitted the distribution of some humanitarian aid but have not stopped the violence from getting worse.
“Since the truce began yesterday, there has been a big increase in the rate of theft and looting of homes,” Mohamed Motasem, a 34-year-old resident of the capital, told Reuters by phone.
On the other side of the Nile River from Khartoum, in Omdurman, locals reported fighting. The army denied having troops in the area, but the RSF said that the army had opened fire on an ICRC truck bringing injured army men in the city. The military claimed to have thwarted an RSF assault in Tawila, North Darfur.
According to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, reports of gender-based and sexual violence as well as ethnic violence in Darfur are of particular concern. Volker Turk, the head of the U.N. human rights office, stated that at least 53 women and children had been the victims of sexual assault, and that between 18 and 20 of those victims had been raped in a single incident.
