Sudan has condemned a Berlin donor conference as “surprising and unacceptable” interference as the war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces enters its fourth year. Millions of people remain displaced, with widespread hunger and escalating attacks deepening the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. <\/em><\/p>\n Germany is hosting the conference on Wednesday in an effort to revive stalled peace talks and mobilise aid, but Khartoum<\/a> said it was organised without consultation and warned that engaging with paramilitary groups would undermine state sovereignty.<\/p>\n Germany<\/a> is aiming to secure more than \u20ac1 billion in funding commitments at the meeting.<\/p>\n The scale of suffering is severe. The vast majority of Sudanese people now live in poverty, 11 million have been uprooted from their homes and nearly twice as many face hunger.<\/p>\n \n “People are exhausted,” Amgad Ahmed, 42, a resident of Omdurman, Khartoum’s twin city, told the French news agency AFP. “Three years of war have worn people down. We have lost work, savings and any sense of stability.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Berlin<\/a> meeting brings together governments, aid agencies and civil society groups, but excludes both the Sudanese army and the RSF, the two sides fighting the conflict.<\/p>\n Similar conferences in London<\/a> and Paris<\/a> over the past two years failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough.<\/p>\n Sudan drone strikes have killed nearly 700 civilians in three months, UN says<\/a><\/p>\n War grinds on<\/p>\n The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people. Nearly 700 civilians have died in drone strikes since January as attacks have escalated on both sides, particularly in South Kordofan<\/a> and Blue Nile<\/a>, the United Nations<\/a> said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “The greatest humanitarian crisis of our time, which is not very often in the public eye,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz<\/a> said.<\/p>\n Famine<\/a> was declared last year in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur<\/a>, and in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan<\/a>, with 20 more areas at risk, the UN said.<\/p>\n Humanitarian<\/a> funding is at just 16 percent of what is needed, according to Luca Renda, the UN Development Programme representative in Sudan.<\/p>\n “There are many external actors involved in this war,” Renda told AFP. “And as long as this continues, unfortunately, the chances of peace are very slim.”<\/p>\n Diplomatic efforts led by the United States<\/a>, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates<\/a> and Egypt<\/a> – known as the Quad – have so far failed. Talks stalled after army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan accused the group in November of bias over Abu Dhabi’s membership.<\/p>\n Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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