Donors hope to raise more than $1bn for Sudan

PARIS/CAIRO: Donors will hopefully pledge “well over a billion euros,” ($1.07 billion) for war-torn Sudan at a conference in Paris on Monday, a diplomatic source said, on the first anniversary of what aid workers describe as a neglected but devastating conflict.

Efforts to help millions of people driven to the verge of famine by the war have been held up by continued fighting, restrictions imposed by the warring sides, and demands on donors from other global disasters.

Conflict in Sudan is threatening to expand, with fighting heating up in and around al-Fashir, a besieged aid hub and the last city in the western Darfur region not taken over by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Hundreds of thousands of displaced people have sought refuge in the area.

“It is obvious that the series of crises - I am thinking of Gaza and Ukraine - have pushed the Sudanese crisis into the background,” French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné said at the Paris conference.