American Magazine: No New Outcome from Berlin Conference

Washington – Sudanhorizon
The American magazine Politico, specializing in national security affairs, has published a summary of the Berlin Conference, downplaying its overall significance. It cited the view expressed by Cameron Hudson, an American security and political expert on Sudanese affairs, who believes the conference made no tangible progress on the issue of a ceasefire or raising substantial new funds for relief efforts.
The magazine noted on Thursday that Germany hosted the conference with the aim of providing financial support to those affected by the years-long war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. It reported that German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul announced that donors pledged $1.53 billion for relief efforts in Sudan, exceeding the $1 billion raised at last year’s donors’ conference in London.
Wadephul told Deutschlandfunk radio, they the world should not forget this major humanitarian crisis in Africa.
But Cameron Hudson, who served as Africa Director at the National Security Council under President George W. Bush, told the Daily Mail that the pledged funds may not necessarily be new money, noting that the amount announced today is almost identical to the amount pledged at a similar conference held in Washington last February.
He believed that all indications are that this is just a play on words, and that all these promises are simply a repetition of previous ones. He added that while the conference succeeded in bringing together members of civil society to voice their concerns about the conflict on an international platform, it made little tangible progress on a ceasefire or raising significant new funds for relief efforts.
The war, which entered its fourth year today, has created what the United Nations has described as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, the magazine reported. At least 14 million Sudanese have been displaced, and another 34 million – roughly 65 percent of the country’s population – are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN. The war with Iran exacerbated the existing famine conditions, disrupted shipping routes, and raised food and fuel prices.

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