Musings From Abroad

US wants more funding in response to Sudan conflict

Published

8 months ago

April 11, 2024

The United States Special Envoy to Sudan says that Washington will push for more than $100 million in extra funding to help with the conflict in the North African country. Washington hopes to rally other donors at a conference this month for donors to talk about the humanitarian crisis.

Partners from around the world should give the Sudanese civil war more attention, according to Special Envoy Tom Perriello, who also hopes that more countries will show their support at a donor meeting in Paris on April 15.

The Sudanese Army (SAF) and the militia Rapid Support Forces (RSF) went to war on April 15, 2023. Since the terrible fighting in Sudan began in April 2023, more than a million people have fled to nearby countries. About 48,000 Chadians were forced to return to eastern Chad and about 378,000 Sudanese refugees are among them.

“The international response has been pitiful. We’re at 5% of the needed amount,” said Perriello, adding that the U.S. has already committed over a billion dollars in humanitarian relief to the conflict.

“We’ll be doing another nine-figure push around this,” he said, without elaborating.

Millions of people are now severely hungry because of the war, which has also caused the world’s biggest migration crisis and waves of killings and sexual violence based on ethnicity in the Darfur area of western Sudan.

Perriello said that the US will keep looking at what is happening on the ground and will take steps to make things more expensive as needed through sanctions and other methods. Because of the war, the US has put sanctions on the deputy head of the RSF, other big companies owned by both sides and other groups.

Perriello also said that peace talks probably wouldn’t start again on April 18, which is the date he had said before that Washington was looking at. Saudi Arabia and the US tried to make peace in Jeddah last year, but the talks did not go well.

“I don’t think we’ll see meetings in Jeddah on the 18th,” he said, adding that Washington is not waiting for formal talks to begin but that negotiations are happening every day.

“We would love frankly for the talks to have started last week. But what we know is the Saudis are committed to the talks, to talks that include a broader set of the key actors, and we are hoping that they will commit to a date.”

The UN says that 8 million people have left their homes and that 25 million people, or half of Sudan’s population, need help. The US says that both sides of the conflict have done crimes during the war.

Musings From Abroad

Swiss company Mercuria partners Zambia’s IDC in new metals trading firm

Published

1 day ago

December 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to a statement released by Swiss commodities trader, Mercuria, on Thursday, it has established a metals trading arm with Zambia, the second-largest producer of copper in Africa.

The trading unit is jointly owned by Mercuria and an arm of Zambia’s Industrial Development Company (IDC), and its purpose is to allow Zambia to engage directly in the minerals trading market.

The joint venture “envisages the establishment of a vehicle to market and trade Zambian copper by mutual leverage,” according to a statement from Cornwell Muleya, the CEO of IDC.

The southern African nation wants to increase copper output to roughly 3 million metric tonnes within the next ten years, and in 2023, it produced roughly 698,000 tonnes of copper, down from 763,000 metric tonnes the year before.

In June, the Zambian government announced that it would establish a minerals trading unit.

Investors including First Quantum Minerals and Barrick Gold are ramping up production, with output set to receive a further boost once Vedanta Resources’ Konkola Copper Mines restart activity.

“Our joint venture with IDC marks a significant milestone for Zambia as it positions itself more strategically in the global minerals market,” Kostas Bintas, Mercuria’s global head of metals and minerals, said in the statement.

Musings From Abroad

Blinken to reveal UN Sudan funding additions

Published

2 days ago

December 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Additional financing for humanitarian aid to Sudan and initiatives to strengthen civil society in the nation, where a conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions, will be announced by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the United Nations on Thursday.

Blinken will make many announcements when he leads a UN Security Council meeting on Sudan on Thursday, which will centre on humanitarian aid and civilian protection, Deputy U.S. Representative to the UN Ned Price told reporters on Wednesday.

According to Price, the announcements would include more money for humanitarian help, initiatives to strengthen civil society, and the return of democracy.

“Sudan, unfortunately, has risked becoming a forgotten conflict,” Price said.

“So part of the reason the secretary … opted to convene a signature event on this very topic is to make sure it remains in the spotlight,” Price said.

For almost 18 months, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and Sudan’s army have been engaged in combat, resulting in a severe humanitarian crisis that has forced over 12 million people from their homes and made it difficult for U.N. organisations to provide aid.

A power struggle between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces preceded a planned shift to civilian administration, which sparked the conflict in April 2023.

Although the army declined to join this year’s U.S.-mediated peace negotiations in Geneva, the warring parties did pledge to increase assistance access, which prevented any movement towards a ceasefire.

Price stated that before President Joe Biden’s term ends next month, the United States would keep collaborating with allies to enhance humanitarian access in Sudan and eventually end hostilities.

“We are going to leave nothing on the field in our efforts to work with allies, with partners, with the Sudanese stakeholders themselves, on the issues that matter most – humanitarian access, the provision of humanitarian assistance, ultimately, the process by which we can work to get to a cessation of hostilities, which is most urgently needed,” he said.