Saudi Arabia announces conference for humanitarian response in Sudan

By Fayez Abdulsalam

ISTANBUL (AA) – Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it will co-chair a conference on humanitarian response in conflict-torn Sudan next week.

In a statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said the high-level conference will be held on June 19 “to pledge support for humanitarian response in Sudan and the region.”

The conference will be jointly led by Qatar, Egypt, Germany and the United Nations, in addition to the European Union and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the statement said.

Sudan has been ravaged by military clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group since mid-April.

More than 1,000 people have been killed and thousands injured in the violence, according to local medics.

The UN estimates that over 1 million residents have been displaced and more than 840,000 have sought shelter in rural areas and other states while another 250,000 have crossed Sudanese borders.

Disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the two sides about integration of the RSF into the armed forces -- a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since fall 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a "coup."

The transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi.