France Hosts Sudan Conference a Year into ‘Forgotten’ War

France and its allies Monday sought to drum up hundreds of millions in aid for Sudan a year since its civil war erupted, sparking one of the world’s worst and most underfunded humanitarian crises.
French Foreign Minster Stephane Sejourne said the aim of Monday’s conference is to mobilize humanitarian funding to help Sudanese people, who have been victims of both a “terrible war” and “international indifference.”
“It’s a colossal task,” Sejourne said. “It’s a war the Sudanese people did not want, a war that only produces chaos and suffering,” he added.
The European Union’s crisis management commissioner, Janez Lenarcic, said the 27-member bloc seeks to ensure that Sudan is not forgotten as wars in Gaza and Ukraine dominate the international news.
“People of Sudan, caught up in this emergency, are almost completely invisible,” Lenarcic said. In a year-long war, Sudan has turned into one of the worst humanitarian disasters ever on the African continent, he said, and added: “It is our duty not to look away.”
The United States and Saudi Arabia initially led efforts to find a negotiated way out of the conflict. But the efforts didn’t succeed, and since October the fighting has been overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which is threatening to expand to a broader regional conflict.
Relief workers, meanwhile, warn that Sudan is hurtling towards an even larger-scale calamity of starvation, with potential mass death in the coming months. Food production and distribution networks have broken down and aid agencies are unable to reach the worst-stricken regions.