London [UK], April 16: British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has urged the warring parties in Sudan to "put peace first" and ensure aid is distributed across the country, following a £120 million ($158.8 million) boost in funding from the UK.
Lammy said it is "morally wrong" to give up on Sudan, as he spoke at a conference in London to mark the conflict's anniversary. Fighting in the north-east African country began in April 2023 with armed clashes between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary organization and the Sudanese Armed Forces. According to United Nations (UN) agencies, more than 12.7 million people have been forcibly displaced in the war, with 1.1 million moving into South Sudan and 1.5 million into Egypt.
The British government has said the £120 million food and aid package will aim to reach more than 600,000 people, by supplying people including vulnerable children with pulses, oils, salts and cereals.
It will also help provide emergency support to survivors of sexual violence.
In his opening remarks at the London Sudan Conference on Tuesday, Lammy said: "Two years on from this war starting, with front lines shifting again, I fear that many onlookers feel a sense of deja vu.
"The country's fraught history also means that some conclude that further conflict is effectively inevitable. Many have given up on Sudan. That is wrong. It's morally wrong when we see so many civilians beheaded, infants as young as one subjected to sexual violence, more people facing famine than anywhere else in the world. We simply cannot look away.
"And, as I speak, civilians and aid workers in El Fasher, Zamzam IDP camp, are facing unimaginable violence.
"With over 4 million refugees having fled the country and instability spreading far beyond Sudan's borders, it's also strategically wrong to forget Sudan.
"And that's why, as Foreign Secretary, I refuse to turn away, I felt a duty to confront this war's horrors head on." He added: "Today I'm announcing a further £120 million worth of support. But the biggest obstacle is not a lack of funding ... it's a lack of political will.
"Very simply, we have got to persuade the warring parties to protect civilians, to let aid in, and across the country, and to put peace first. And so we do need patient diplomacy." The UK is co-hosting the London Sudan Conference alongside the 55-member African Union bloc, the European Union, France and Germany, attended by representatives from other states including South Sudan, Saudi Arabia and the US.
Lammy said he hopes principles for future diplomatic engagement can be agreed upon during the conference.
He added: "We cannot resign ourselves to inevitable conflict, we cannot be back here one year from now having the same discussions." The aid package follows a separate £113 million aid package announced last November, before the British government decision to cut UK development spending from 0.5% of GNI (gross national income) to 0.3% by 2027.
Ahead of the meeting, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN wants to see Sudan's "neighbours and the international community move in unity of purpose towards peace instead of fuelling the conflict."
Source: Qatar Tribune
