US pledges over $47M in humanitarian aid for war-torn Sudan

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The U.S. announced more than $47 million in humanitarian aid for war-torn Sudan and two neighboring countries, to where at least a million people have fled in the nearly 1-year-old conflict.

The aid package is expected to help alleviate the suffering of nearly 25 million people, including refugees who have fled the country into Chad and South Sudan, according to a statement Wednesday from the U.S. State Department.

"This U.S. humanitarian assistance provides critical life-saving assistance including food, water and sanitation facilities, shelter, medical services including mental health support, and protection to Sudanese fleeing the conflict," it said.

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The fresh funds bring to more than $968 million the total U.S. humanitarian aid for Sudan since last year, the statement said.

People chant slogans during a protest to denounce the October 2021 military coup, in Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

Sudan plunged into chaos last April, when long-simmering tensions between its military led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo broke out into street battles in the capital, Khartoum. Thousands have been killed.

More than 9 million people are thought to be internally displaced in Sudan, and 1.5 million refugees have fled into neighboring countries.

The U.S. relief funds were announced by Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration Julieta Valls Noyes during a meeting in N’Djamena with Chadian Prime Minister Succès Masra, whose country will receive $18 million of the entire package, according to a statement posted by the US Population, Refugees and Migration Bureau on the social platform X, formerly known as twitter.

Chad alone has received nearly 700,000 people from Sudan since the conflict erupted, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.

The U.S. seized the opportunity to renew its calls on warring parties to end hostilities. "Preventing a famine and long-term catastrophe will require both a ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access," the statement said.

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The U.S. announcement came the same day the U.N. director of humanitarian operations, Edem Wosornu, told the Security Council that Sudan might become the world's worst hunger crisis with 18 million people already facing acute food insecurity. She stressed the need for humanitarian aid complaining that the U.N. appeal for $2.7 billion for Sudan was less than 5% funded — receiving just $131 million.