Anand says Sudan ‘front,’ pledges $120M in aid as war enters fourth year – National
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand announced an additional $120 million for humanitarian and development aid in Sudan on Wednesday as the African country’s civil war enters its fourth year.
Anand told the Canadian Press that hunger is being used as a weapon of war in Sudan but it is up to the international courts to decide whether genocide is taking place.
“Sudan is a priority for us,” Anand said in an interview on Wednesday. “I am very concerned about the population problem that continues to grow.”
The United Nations says 34 million people in Sudan – two-thirds of the population – need humanitarian support. More than 13 million people have been displaced and the UN has reported at least 40,000 deaths, although aid groups say the true death toll is much higher.
The conflict began as a political conflict between the country’s militia and the militia and a brutal ethnic war broke out in the Darfur region. Sudan is now divided between a military-backed, internationally recognized government in the capital Khartoum, and a rival government controlled by the Rapid Support Forces in Darfur, Sudan’s western region.
Canada has announced more than $94 million in humanitarian aid to Sudan, such as emergency food and nutrition support. That amount includes aid for Sudanese displaced from neighboring countries.
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Ottawa is also sending $25 million in development aid, such as support for schools and counseling for victims, through Save the Children Canada, and funding for sexual violence prevention through the UN.
Randeep Sarai, the secretary of state for international development, announced the funding at a conference in Berlin, where German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said C$2 billion in humanitarian aid had been pledged by various countries.
That amount includes C$343 million in Germany’s contribution, as well as Canada’s contribution.
Wadephul told German media that the aid was being offered to help fill a funding gap left by cuts in US foreign aid under President Donald Trump.
The Sudanese government in Khartoum, meanwhile, condemned the conference as an “unacceptable” interference and said Germany did not consult with Sudan before convening it.
Anand said Canada’s funding increases the $220 million Canada has already pledged to people living in Sudan and those who have fled the conflict.
“There is concrete evidence that starvation is being used deliberately as a means of war,” he said. “Hospitals (and) public infrastructure are aimed at all women and girls who described sexual violence as something different, but something that cannot be avoided.
“The people of Sudan need water. They need health care. They need nutritious food. They need safe places to be and security. This is what international humanitarian law says.”
Anand said this assistance is part of Canada’s efforts to help citizens caught up in wars and political conflicts in places ranging from Cuba to Lebanon.
“One of the important things that this aid emphasizes is that we respond to this volatile world where citizens and people’s infrastructure are constantly under attack,” he said.
Washington has accused Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces of carrying out the massacre. Anand said that determination is in the international courts.
“The legal decision that the situation is similar to genocide depends on the international courts, but we do not stop to point out that there may be concrete evidence – as there is in this case – of human rights violations that are horrible and horrible,” he said.
He commented on the RSF attack on a hospital in the Sudanese city of el-Fasher last October, which killed hundreds of patients and led to the capture of many health workers.
Videos posted online show hospital rooms riddled with bullet holes, and analysis of satellite images by Yale University found pools of blood suggesting mass killings in many areas.
Many aid groups are calling for more attention and funding for the Sudan crisis.
The Montreal-based Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights proposed a plan to improve Sudanese society, end violence and seek accountability through international institutions.
The plan, released on Wednesday, has the support of many lawyers, including former United Nations ambassador Bob Rae and former member of parliament Roméo Dallaire.
— via files from The Associated Press
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