Belgian Foreign minister: "World cannot look away from catastrophic situation in Sudan"

Foreign minister Maxime Prévot on Friday called on the international community to show solidarity with the Sudanese people amid what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

"The situation in Sudan is nothing short of catastrophic. Millions of people are trapped in a conflict they did not choose, facing hunger, displacement and unimaginable violence. The world cannot look away," Prévot said on X.

The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) this week released an additional 20 million dollars in emergency aid for Sudan, bringing total allocations this year to nearly 47 million dollars. That money will be used to deliver food, water, shelter, protection and healthcare. Belgium is contributing 37 million euros to the fund for 2025–2026.

Prévot stressed, however, that "humanitarian aid alone will not end the suffering. Only a peaceful political solution can bring hope back to the Sudanese people. Until then, Belgium will continue to stand by them, with solidarity, action, and humanity."

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30 months of violence

Sudan has been torn apart by civil war since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the forces of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions.

Since last week, the RSF controls the entirety of Darfur, which covers a third of Sudan’s territory. Reports from the region point to mass executions, torture and rape, while violence in other parts of the country continues to intensify, according to the UN.

"We are seeing a mass extermination of people trapped in the region, similar to what happened in Rwanda," Nathaniel Raymond, director of Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab, told AFP this week. "The scale, speed and totality of the violence in Darfur is unlike anything I have ever seen before."

^{Foreign minister Maxime Prévot during a visit to a refugee site in Ethiopia earlier this year. © BELGA PHOTO BENOIT DOPPAGNE}

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