GENEVA: International donors made pledges on Monday of close to $1.5 billion in aid for Sudan and the surrounding region, about half of estimated needs for a deepening humanitarian crisis that has driven some 2.2 million people from their homes.
Though a 72-hour ceasefire has brought a lull in fighting in Khartoum since Sunday, residents reported that looting had surged as clashes subsided and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said gunfire had prevented the transfer of wounded soldiers to hospital.
In El Geneina, the worst hit city in Darfur, desperate residents have been trying to flee groups attacks, but face murder, detention as they set out on foot for the nearby border with Chad, witnesses and aid workers say.
A fundraising conference in Geneva hosted by Germany, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations was meant to drum up pledges to support relief efforts that have been hampered by ceasefire violations, looting and bureaucratic controls.
Donors announced close to $1.5 billion in pledges, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said, though it was not immediately clear if all the money was new or when it would be disbursed.
That included 200 million euros from Germany and $171 million from the United States. The European Union said it had committed 190 million euros, and Qatar pledged $50 million.
“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 US had contributed more than half the funding for Sudan.
The ceasefire that began on Sunday is the latest in a series of truce deals that have allowed for the delivery of some humanitarian aid but failed to prevent the conflict from intensifying.
“Since the truce began, there has been a big increase in the rate of theft and looting of homes,” Mohamed Motasem, a 34-year-old resident, said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was especially concerned by ethnic violence in Darfur. UN human rights chief Volker Turk said his office had received reports of violence against at least 53 women and girls. Turk said the RSF had been identified as the perpetrator “in almost all cases” and also named them in relation to looting, large-scale attacks in West Darfur and enforced disappearances, of which 394 cases had been reported in the Khartoum area alone — Reuters
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