Donors pledge $1.8 billion for Sudan's troubled transition

BERLIN: Foreign donor nations pledged $1.8 billion at a conference hosted by Germany to help Sudan ease an economic crisis hampering its transition towards democracy after the fall of strongman Omar al-Bashir.

The European Union pledged 312 million euros ($350.13 million), the United States $356.2 million, Germany 150 million euros, France 100 million euros, and Britain £150 million for humanitarian and development programmes, chief among them planned cash transfers to poor families with the help of the World Bank, officials said at the online event. Saudi Arabia, which said it had given Sudan $500 million over the past year, donated only $10 million. The United Arab Emirates donated $50 million.

The two Gulf countries had promised a grant to Sudan of $3 billion in the form of cash and commodities after the military ousted Bashir in April 2019, but it is unclear how much has reached the country in total.