WASHINGTON: The United States pleaded Thursday for the world to care more about Sudan nearly a year into its brutal war and voiced hope for a resumption soon of peace talks.
“As communities barrel toward famine, as cholera and measles spread, as violence continues to claim countless lives, the world has largely remained silent,” said the US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
“That must change — and it has to change now. The international community must give more, it must do more and it has to care more,” she told reporters in Washington.
A long-running rift between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces erupted into all-out war on April 15, 2023, leaving thousands dead, displacing millions and severely derailing a fragile transition to civilian rule and leaving thousands.
But the conflict has been largely overshadowed by the war in Gaza. Thomas-Greenfield regretted that just five percent of a UN humanitarian appeal on Sudan had been met, forcing cutbacks in assistance for refugees.
She said the United States will be “significantly increasing” funding in coming days. France on Monday is set to lead an international humanitarian conference for Sudan.
Tom Perriello, the US special envoy for Sudan, voiced hope to use the “momentum” from the Paris conference to start new talks between the two sides.
Perriello said that Saudi Arabia had committed to a new round of talks and that the United States hoped to announce the date soon.
“While many, many signs point to the war getting even worse, in some ways, it’s gotten so bad and it’s starting to have such regional implications that it’s also increased, I think, some of the diplomatic appetite to try to find an end to this war,” Perriello said.
“We’re going to try to use every lever we have,” he said.