Refaat said that Sudanese people fleeing the war will be ready to return and rebuild their country once they see “a glimmer of hope for stability.” But, he added, “if this flashing is destroyed at this time, if not invested in, we can see the exact opposite.”
The threats of Sudan’s civil war dwarf other war zones in size and duration. Among the 213 recorded attacks on health facilities since the start of the war, last year’s massacre at a maternity hospital in El Fasher killed 460 people, according to the UN.
Despite the killings, the conflict is “invisible,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF’s representative in Sudan. “The man in the street doesn’t know what’s going on in Sudan … I think that’s because there’s no easy narrative – it’s Africa, there’s always been conflict there. We shouldn’t accept that.”
Refaat, Yett and representatives of several humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations Food Programme, the World Health Organization and UNICEF, were in Brussels to raise awareness about Sudan’s civil war and seek funding from the EU.
Appealing to Brussels, the UN agencies wrote in a statement that “a rapid increase in flexible funding is necessary to meet immediate needs and allow UN agencies to respond as the situation evolves.”
Zoya Sheftalovich contributed to this report.
