Sudan War and $2.1 Billion Pledged (Darfur)
Sawako Uchida and Sawako Utsumi
Modern Tokyo Times
Leading officials at the international conference in Paris pledged to support Sudan. This nation is blighted by the ongoing war throughout the country. Also, in Darfur, ethnic massacres by Arab militias against African Masalits and other minorities are a major concern.
President Emmanuel Macron of France, announced $2.1 billion in humanitarian assistance to support the people of Sudan during the international conference.
General Antonio Guterres (United Nations General Secretary) said, “It is a war on the 18 million people facing acute hunger, and the communities now staring down the terrifying threat of famine in the months ahead.”
Humanitarian assistance and food deliveries from the United Nations (UN) recently reached West Darfur – after being prevented.
The UN warned the international community and military factions on the ground that 5 million people face severe food insecurity. In total, 18 million people in war-torn Sudan face acute hunger.
Voice of America reports, “Fighting erupted in the capital, Khartoum, a year ago between rival generals who lead the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the RSF. Hostilities quickly spread across the country. The United Nations says more than 8 million people have fled their homes in search of safety – 1.8 million of them to neighboring countries.”
The original crisis was focused on Khartoum. However, the war spread to other parts of Sudan.
AFP reports, “The fighting in Darfur, with brutal attacks from the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces on ethnic African civilians, is reviving fears of another genocide, back in the early 2000s, when as many as 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes, many by government-backed Arab militias.”
Catherine Russell (Executive Director of UNICEF) said, “Sudan – and Darfur in particular – has become a living hell for millions of children, with thousands being ethnically targeted, killed, injured, abused, and exploited. This must end.”
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (Volker Türk) said, “In West Darfur, ethnically motivated attacks perpetrated by the RSF and allied Arab militia have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of non-Arab civilians primarily from Masalit communities.”
Lee Jay Walker (Modern Tokyo Times analyst) says, “It is often forgotten that Arabs in the land of Mecca (Saudi Arabia) only stopped slavery in the 1960s. Hence, with ISIS enslaving Yazidis in modern times in Iraq, it wasn’t surprising that Arabs also continued to enslave in Sudan during the war against the mainly African Animists and Christians in the south – which led to the creation of South Sudan. Therefore, black African Muslims in Darfur can’t escape the legacy of Arab slavery and racial hatred that continues in this part of Sudan.”
The crisis in Darfur, Khartoum, South Kordofan, and other areas blighted by war must be addressed internally, regionally, and internationally.
Macron said, “France supports all international and regional peace initiatives to contribute to resolving the crisis. Each of them participates in building peace.”
Macron continued, “… we must also stop all the financing that is done by proxies because, unfortunately, the amount that we have mobilized today probably remains lower than that which was mobilized by several powers since the start of the conflict to help each other kill each other.”
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