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An international donors’ conference is set to begin in Geneva on Monday for Sudan, where a ceasefire was holding but the UN says the humanitarian situation is worsening after two months of war.
The conference comes mid-way through a three-day ceasefire which appeared to have brought calm to the capital Khartoum, after the failure of earlier truces to ensure secure aid corridors.
Several Khartoum residents told AFP they heard no air strikes, artillery or other fighting on Monday, a rare respite for the war-weary suffering shortages of medical care, electricity, water and other essentials.
The army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has since April 15 been battling the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, after the two fell out in a power struggle.
Across the country, the death toll has topped 2,000, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project said.
Hundreds of kilometres (miles) west of Khartoum, up to 1,100 have been killed in the West Darfur state capital El Geneina alone, according to the US State Department, blaming “primarily” the RSF.
A record 25 million people -- more than half of Sudan’s population -- are in need of aid, according to the United Nations, which says it has received only a fraction of desperately needed funding.
Roughly 2.5 million people have been uprooted across Sudan by the war, which has forced around 550,000 to seek refuge in neighbouring countries, the International Organization for Migration said.
Monday’s conference, which is set to open in the Swiss city at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT), is to address the aid needs both in Sudan and in neighbouring countries, now bearing an increased burden.
The UN will convene the event with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the African Union and the European Union.
Donors are expected to announce financial commitments to address the humanitarian crisis “and reiterate the need for the parties to the conflict in Sudan to adhere to their obligations under International Humanitarian Law,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.
It said less than 16 per cent of the needed $2.6 billion for aid response has been funded, while the regional refugee response plan for $470 million is similarly underfunded.
With farm fields left fallow because of fuel and other shortages during the war, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said Monday it urgently needs more than $95 million to reach 15 million people.
Despite the lack of money, the looting of aid facilities and the killing of humanitarian workers, aid agencies have increased their response to the tragedy but, according to UN figures, only a fraction of those in need have been reached.
William Carter, Sudan director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, said bureaucratic delays are also hindering the aid response.
