The United States has pledged an additional $424 million in humanitarian aid to the people of Sudan. US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, made the announcement on Wednesday.
Civil war erupted in mid-April last year amid a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, occurring just before a planned transition to civilian rule.
“More than 25 million Sudanese face acute hunger. Many are in famine… and some 11 million have fled their homes in what has become the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet,” Thomas-Greenfield stated.
She emphasised the urgent need to compel the warring parties to accept humanitarian pauses in conflict-affected areas such as Al-Fashir and Khartoum, eliminate barriers to humanitarian access along all routes, and engage in negotiations to end the violence.
“We must compel the warring parties to accept humanitarian pauses in Al-Fashir, Khartoum and other highly vulnerable areas, eliminate barriers to humanitarian access along all routes, and put down their weapons and come to the negotiating table,” she said.
This latest announcement brings the total US aid funding since the onset of the conflict to $2 billion, as noted by the US mission to the UN.