UN Launches $22 Million Educational Initiative for Sudanese Children

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Peacebuilding, Rosemary DiCarlo, warned during a Security Council meeting convened by Denmark about the lasting consequences of the conflict in Sudan and the humanitarian situation of civilians.

DiCarlo stressed that civilians are facing one of the worst humanitarian crises due to constant drone attacks targeting markets, schools, gas stations, and water infrastructure, all exacerbated by the rainy season.

It is estimated that around 13 million people have been forced to leave their homes, although access difficulties have prevented an exact confirmation of the number of fatalities, which 'probably reaches hundreds of thousands'. The Under-Secretary also denounced that 'brutal mass killings and atrocities, kidnapping of women and girls, and collective rape are recurring patterns.'

The conflict in Sudan, fought between the Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), began on April 15, 2023, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and forcing millions into exile, constituting the world's worst displacement and famine crisis, according to the UN.

DiCarlo detailed that in North Kordofan, drone attacks persist while both sides fight for control of strategic cities. She expressed great concern about the imminent risk of large-scale atrocities by the RSF in El Abdede and surrounding areas. Near Tina, on the border with Chad, air attacks caused violent disputes over resources, intensifying pressure on land due to the refugee flow.

In the same meeting, Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, who spoke via video conference, reported that more than two-thirds of the Sudanese population urgently needs humanitarian aid. According to Fletcher, the UN has counted 1,400 civilian deaths in the first half of the year, more than 1,100 of which were attributed to drone attacks.

In other regions, in West Kordofan, which is the focus of a recent cholera outbreak, the presence of the UN is described as 'very limited'. Additionally, the escalation of violence in the Nuba Mountains, in South Kordofan, is isolating communities already affected by chronic food insecurity.

In Northwest North Darfur, fighting and bombings continue to hinder humanitarian access, leaving hundreds of thousands of people who fled the atrocities in El-Fashir last year in a state of extreme vulnerability in Tawila.

Tom Fletcher criticized the lack of intervention, arguing that the Sudanese people require courageous and firm diplomacy. He stated: 'The tragedy of Sudan is not that we don't know what to do. It is that we have not yet found the will to do it.'

During the same session, in New York, the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, warned of the danger of the Sudanese nation disintegrating, classifying the situation as 'the destruction of a nation'.

Rasmussen lamented that warning signs had been ignored while violence spread, leaving a trail of immense suffering and atrocities. He called on the warring parties to meet immediately to negotiate, praising the improvement in coordination among mediators and emphasizing that the process must be conducted, led, and included by the Sudanese themselves.

The minister also urged donors to increase support, announcing that Denmark would increase its contribution by 15.6 million dollars (equivalent to 13.37 million euros), raising its total funding to almost 105 million dollars (90 million euros) since 2023.