US earmarks $315 million additional aid for Sudan
June 17, 2024 (WASHINGTON) – The United States will provide more than $315 million in additional humanitarian assistance to support the people of Sudan, a country facing the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, a top official said.
Samantha Power, the administrator for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said the aid will support the needy the prevent deaths.
She urged Sudan’s warring parties to allow humanitarian aid reach those in need.
“It is obstruction, not insufficient stocks of food, that is the driving force behind the historic and deadly levels of starvation in Sudan. That has to change immediately,” she said.
Nearly 25 million people in Sudan while over 8 million have fled their homes.
While this additional assistance is vital to meeting the needs of the most vulnerable, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) must also live up to their commitments and obligations to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to mitigate the catastrophe unfolding now, it stressed.
According to USAID, urgently needed cross-line assistance, moving goods from SAF to RSF territory or vice versa, is limited, and unhindered cross-border movements through Adre, on the Chad border, is needed immediately in order to address famine-like conditions faced by millions of people.
Obstruction by combatants, it said, is a driving force behind the historic levels of starvation and large-scale deaths in Sudan.
The US further said it is focused on immediately scaling up and sustaining the capacity of humanitarian partners, including through market-based and in-kind support, to help avoid breaks in the delivery of life-saving relief for the most vulnerable.
“The United States continues to stand with the people of Sudan and calls for the RSF and SAF to immediately adhere to international humanitarian law and return to the negotiating table to end this war that has caused so much suffering for the people of Sudan”, it concluded.
(ST)