Saudi Arabia pledges $100M in aid to conflict-torn Sudan

ANKARA

Saudi Arabia on Sunday pledged $100 million in humanitarian aid to Sudan amid ongoing clashes between two military rivals.

More than 550 people have been killed and thousands injured in fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group since April 15, according to Sudan’s Health Ministry.

Saudi state news agency SPA said King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center pledged to “provide $100 million worth of various humanitarian aid” to conflict-torn Sudan.

The relief center also plans to organize a national donation campaign through the Sahem platform “to alleviate the current conditions faced by the Sudanese people,” SPA said.

“The assistance emanates from the keenness of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince to stand by the Sudanese people and mitigate the impacts of the crisis in Sudan,” Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah, director of King Salman Center, said.

Al Rabeeah said relief, humanitarian, and medical aid will be provided to Sudanese citizens displaced by the conflict.

Saudi Arabia on Saturday hosted the first face-to-face talks between representatives of the Sudanese army and the RSF in an effort to resolve their dispute.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the two sides over the integration of the RSF into the armed forces — a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since fall 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a "coup."

The transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, was scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi