Macron says over 2 bn euros in aid pledged at Sudan conference

France and its allies on Monday collected aid pledges of more than two billion euros ($2.1 billion) at a conference dedicated to helping war-torn Sudan, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

"We can announce that over 2 billion euros will be mobilized.... this support will be able to respond to the most urgent needs" for Sudan's population ranging from a food crisis to education, he said.

Macron added that European Union countries had pledged nearly half the humanitarian aid total.

He said the total pledged marked a sharp increase on the level before the Paris conference was held when pledges stood at 190 million euros.

Macron condemned the conflict between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that erupted one year ago, describing April 15 as "a tragic date for Sudan".

"It is a conflict imposed on the people that only produces grief and suffering, provoking one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world."

"There is a terrible cynicism behind this war," he said, accusing regional powers of seeking to exploit the situation for their interests.

With the conference "our duty was to show that we are not forgetting what is going on in Sudan and there are no double standards" as the world focuses on other crises.

Macron, who in May 2021 had hosted a conference in Paris on Sudan's democratic transition, paid tribute to the 2018 uprising against the authoritarian rule that many hoped would usher in a new future for the country.

"No one forgot the revolution of 2018 which raised so much hope. It was ruined by cynicism... We will get there," he said.