“If we continue to avert our gaze from Sudan there will be disastrous consequences” for the country, wracked by a civil war now entering its third year, and for the region, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has warned.

“We must do everything we can to bring peace back to Sudan. Humanitarian aid and development support must be strengthened. If we continue to look away there will be disastrous consequences,” Filippo Grandi stressed in a statement, in which he also warned Europeans about the arrival of Sudanese refugees in the absence of adequate aid.

The war broke out on 15 April 2023 between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of that country’s armed forces in northeast Africa, and his former deputy chief of staff, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (FSR).

The conflict has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people and more than 13 million people have either been displaced or become refugees, plunging the country of about 50 million into a major humanitarian crisis, according to the UN, which warns that famine is spreading.

“The Sudanese are besieged on all sides: war, widespread atrocities, humiliation, hunger and other hardships. They face the indifference of the outside world, which for two years has not been at all interested in peace in Sudan, nor in helping its neighbours,” Grandi complained.

Neighbouring Chad, also a country with limited resources, is hosting very large numbers of refugees, as is Egypt, where 1.5 million Sudanese have fled. South Sudanese nationals who had fled to neighbouring Sudan have also returned to their country, which is also on the brink of civil war.

“The stability of the whole region is threatened. There is an urgent need for humanitarian protection, but also for development assistance, so that the (host) governments can offer the refugees and their own populations a better future,” the UNHCR stressed.

The impact of this war is not limited to nearby countries, he also warned.

“Sudanese refugees are arriving in Uganda and crossing Libya – making trap-filled journeys – to reach Europe,” he noted.

“These refugees need and deserve to have their fundamental rights respected – for safety and dignity, for education and employment, for health and shelter, and for peace. Many have made this journey in search of these rights, and many others will follow their example,” he concluded.

London conference

London is today hosting a conference on Sudan aimed at mobilising the international community to end the conflict that is wracking the country and has left more than thirty million people “desperately in need of aid”.

“Two years is far too long – the brutal war in Sudan has destroyed the lives of millions of people – and yet much of the world continues to look away,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said hours before the conference began.

“The belligerents have shown terrible contempt for the civilian population of Sudan,” he complained.

More than thirty million people are “desperately in need of aid”, according to the British Foreign Office.

The conference, co-organised by Britain, the European Union, Germany, France and the African Union, will be attended by ministers from 14 countries, including Saudi Arabia and the US, according to the British Foreign Office. Its aim is to “conclude on the course to be followed to end the suffering” of the Sudanese population, David Lammy also stressed.

The Sudanese government has not been invited and has protested about this to Britain, accusing it of equating the “sovereign and UN member since 1956” Sudanese state with the FSR “a terrorist paramilitary organization that commits genocide and crimes against humanity.”

The Sudanese army controls the northern and eastern parts of Sudan, while the FSR dominate part of the southern part and almost all of the sprawling Darfur region in the western part of the country. The two camps are accused of abuses and atrocities.

Lami announced new aid of 120 million pounds sterling (about 139.5 million euros) that will allow for vital food supplies, especially for children, and support for victims of sexual violence.

“Two years of war and displacement have shattered the lives of millions of children across Sudan,” Unicef chief Catherine Russell denounced yesterday, Monday. According to that UN agency, the number of children verified as killed or maimed rose from 150 in 2022, for example, to 2,776 in 2023 and 2024, a number she stressed was likely an underestimate compared to the actual number.

“Sudan has the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today, but it is not getting the attention of the world,” according to Russell.

Germany will pay an additional 125 million euros in humanitarian aid.

The aid package will allow non-governmental organizations to provide food and medicine to victims of the war, but will also help “stabilize the situation in neighboring countries” whose capacity to receive refugees “is being stretched to its limits,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock said yesterday.

“Out of a thirst for power” the two rivals are “subjecting their own people to enormous atrocities” in what has become “the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of our time,” the German foreign minister added.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced today ahead of the conference new financial support of 50 million euros in humanitarian aid.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted that decision-makers attending the conference should “urgently address the protection of civilians and guarantee the safe and unhindered transport of humanitarian aid”. The NGO also called on them to “make concrete commitments” such as deploying a civilian protection mission.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned at the same time of the “devastating consequences of a third year of war.”

“Civilians who are not killed in the fighting are at risk of dying because of the lack of access to drinking water or a functioning health centre,” it warned.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed “great concern that weapons and fighters continue to arrive in Sudan”, but did not mention the countries from which they come.