UK doubles aid to war-torn Sudan
by AFP Staff Writers
London (AFP) Nov 17, 2024

The UK on Sunday announced a GBP 113 million ($143 million) aid boost to support more than one million people affected by the war in Sudan, doubling its current package.

The new funding will be targeted at the 600,000 people in Sudan and 700,000 people in neighbouring countries who have fled the conflict.

"The brutal conflict in Sudan has caused unimaginable suffering. The people of Sudan need more aid, which is why the UK is helping to provide much-needed food, shelter and education for the most vulnerable," Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a government press release.

"The UK will never forget Sudan," he vowed.

Fighting broke out in April 2023 between the army under the country's de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Last month, United Nations experts accused the warring sides of using "starvation tactics" against 25 million civilians, and three major aid organisations warned of a "historic" hunger crisis as families resort to eating leaves and insects.

Lammy is due to visit the UN Security Council on Monday, where his ministry said he will call on the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to keep the vital Adre border crossing open indefinitely to allow aid deliveries.

"We cannot deliver aid without access. Starvation must not be used as a weapon of war," he said.

The new funding package will support UN and NGO partners in providing food, money, shelter, medical assistance, water and sanitation, said the Foreign Office.

Deaths in the conflict are likely to be "substantially underreported", according to a study published this week, which found more casualties in Khartoum State alone than current empirical estimates for the whole country.

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