December 20, Nairobi — The United States announced approximately $200 million in food, shelter and healthcare aid to Sudan on Thursday.
At the United Nations Security Council in New York, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made the annoucement and said that Sudan was the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. The aid will be “vital” in helping meet the needs of people in Sudan and those who have to fled to neighboring countries, he said.
At the meeting, Edem Wosorno, operations director at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that $4.2 billion would be needed to support the needs of Sudan next year. “The volume of humanitarian aid reaching people in need remains a fraction of what is required,” she told the Council.
Blinken also condemned countries providing military support to Sudan’s warring parties, or profiting from the conflict.
“Use your resources to ease Sudanese suffering, not deepen it. Use your influence to end the war, not perpetuate it. Don’t just claim to be concerned about Sudan’s future, prove it,” he told the United Nations Security Council.
On Wednesday, Politico reported that the Biden administration is launching a last-minute push to address the war in Sudan before it leaves office. Administration officials are allegedly weighing plans to declare the atrocities in Sudan as a genocide and issue new sanctions.
The Biden administration has faced criticism from lawmakers and human rights organizations for not doing enough to hold the leaders of the war in Sudan accountable.