Refaat said that Sudanese people fleeing war would be willing to return and rebuild their country as soon as they see a “blink of hope of stability.” But, he added, “if this blink is destroyed at this moment, if it is not being invested in, we might absolutely see the opposite.”
The horrors of Sudan’s civil war dwarf other conflict zones in scale and duration. Among the 213 attacks that have been recorded on health facilities since the start of the war, a massacre last year at a maternity hospital in El Fasher left some 460 people dead, according to the U.N.
Despite the carnage, the conflict is “invisible,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF’s representative in Sudan. “The man on the street has no idea what’s happening in Sudan … I think that’s because there’s no easy narrative — it’s Africa, there’s always been conflict there. We should not accept that.”
Refaat, Yett and representatives of several humanitarian agencies, including the U.N. World 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 U.N. agencies wrote in a statement that “immediate increases in flexible funding are critical to meet urgent needs and allow U.N. agencies to respond as the situation evolves.”
Zoya Sheftalovich contributed to this report.