US gives more Sudan aid

20/12/2024 6:09

U.S. Secretary of

State Antony Blinken on Thursday announced some $200 million in

additional humanitarian assistance for Sudan, where a conflict

has killed tens of thousands of people and triggered the world's

largest displacement crisis.



Blinken, chairing a United Nations Security Council meeting

on Sudan, said the funding would provide food, shelter and

healthcare to Sudan, where he said more aid needs to be

delivered safely and rapidly.



He also said the United States would use every tool,

including further sanctions, to prevent abuses in Sudan and hold

perpetrators accountable, calling on others to implement similar

punitive measures on those worsening the conflict.



The U.N. says nearly 25 million people - half of Sudan's

population - need aid as famine has taken hold in displacement

camps and 11 million people have fled their homes. Nearly 3

million of those people have left for other countries.



The war erupted in April 2023 amid a power struggle between

the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support

Forces (RSF) ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule.



Senior U.N. aid official Edem Wosornu said the "horrendous

human toll" continued.



"Fierce hostilities in populated areas escalating and

spreading, with evident disregard for international humanitarian

law. Civilians killed and injured in unbearable numbers," she

told the Security Council.



"Millions stalked by the threat of famine, in the world's

largest hunger crisis. Sexual violence rife," Wosornu added.

"This is a crisis of staggering scale and cruelty. One that

demands sustained and urgent attention."



The war in Sudan has produced waves of ethnically driven

violence blamed largely on the RSF. The RSF denies harming

civilians and attributes the activity to rogue actors.



Shayna Lewis, a Sudan specialist with nonprofit group PAEMA

(Preventing and Ending Mass Atrocities), recounted speaking with

a young woman from Sudan's Darfur region earlier this year.

Lewis said the woman had been gang-raped in her family home.



"Her father beat against the door of the room she was

trapped in trying to save his baby girl. In return, the RSF

troops shot him dead for daring to protect her," Lewis told the

council.



The RSF and allies have committed "staggering" levels of

sexual abuse, raping civilians as troops advance and abducting

some women as sex slaves, a U.N. fact-finding mission reported

in October, with victims ranging from 8 to 75 years old.



The report echoed investigations by Reuters and rights

groups into widespread sexual abuse in the conflict. The RSF has

previously said it would investigate allegations and bring

perpetrators to justice.