UN to hold pledging conference for Sudan on June 19 in Geneva

By Betul Yuruk

UNITED NATIONS (AA) - The United Nations will hold a pledging conference for war-torn Sudan on June 19 in Geneva, a spokesperson said on Monday.

"There will be a high-level pledging event to support the humanitarian response plan in Sudan and the region," UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

The pledging conference will be co-hosted with Egypt, Germany, Qatar Saudi Arabia and the European Union, he added.

The conflict-hit African nation has been engulfed by violence for weeks between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group.

The humanitarian situation is reaching a "breaking point" in Sudan, according to the UN, with goods essential for people’s survival becoming scarce in the hardest-hit urban centers, especially Khartoum.

Over 13.6 million children are in urgent need of lifesaving humanitarian support in Sudan, the highest number ever recorded in the country amid intense fighting, according to the UN children's agency, UNICEF.

More than 700 people have been killed, including 190 children, and 6,000 others injured, according to the UN.

Over 1 million residents have been displaced and more than 840,000 have sought shelter in rural areas and other states while another 250,000 have crossed Sudanese borders.

Disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the two sides about integration of the RSF into the armed forces -- a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since fall 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a "coup."

The transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.