International Donors Pledge €1.5 Billion for Sudan Amid Three-Year Civil War Anniversary

An international donor conference on Sudan in Berlin raised approximately 1.5 billion euros in humanitarian aid pledges on April 15-16, 2026, as ministers from more than 60 countries gathered at the German Federal Foreign Office on the third anniversary of the civil war's outbreak. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described the result as a positive sign in "a world of shrinking humanitarian resources," while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the anniversary a "tragic milestone" and demanded an end to "the nightmare." The conference was co-hosted by Germany, France, Great Britain, the United States, the European Union, and the African Union. Germany itself pledged an additional 212 million euros for rapid humanitarian support, along with roughly 20 million euros for longer-term development projects. The pledges exceeded the approximately one billion euros raised at the previous Sudan conference in London, though they fell short of the three billion dollars that experts estimate is needed for 2026.

Warring parties excluded as civil society takes center stage For the third consecutive time — following conferences in Paris in 2024 and London in 2025 — the two warring factions were deliberately excluded from the Berlin gathering. The Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces were not invited to Berlin, a decision the organizers framed as a deliberate shift in diplomatic strategy. What distinguished the Berlin conference from its predecessors was the explicit inclusion of Sudanese civil society representatives in formal discussion rounds — approximately 60 of the 120 invited delegations came from civil society. The organizers argued that previous peace efforts had focused too narrowly on military actors and ceasefire mechanics, and that a civilian-centered approach was now necessary. Despite calls from multiple participants for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, no agreement from the warring parties was reached. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates blocked a joint declaration at the conference, according to reporting by ZEIT ONLINE, with background power struggles over regional influence cited as a factor.

The civil war in Sudan broke out on April 15, 2023, following a breakdown of a fragile power-sharing arrangement between the SAF and the RSF that had been established after the 2019 revolution ousting longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir. The two factions had jointly overthrown the civilian transitional government in 2021 before turning against each other. Early international efforts to broker peace included direct talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in May 2023, just three weeks after fighting began, but produced no agreement. Subsequent peace talks in Geneva, Cairo, and Addis Ababa also failed. A negotiation group known as the Quad — comprising the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates — similarly failed to end the war despite sustained efforts.

Over 33 million need aid as funding falls far short The scale of the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan has made it what multiple international bodies describe as the world's largest humanitarian crisis. Approximately 150,000 people have been killed since the war began, according to Deutsche Welle, while various estimates put the number of displaced people at between 12 and 15 million — roughly one in four Sudanese. More than 33 million people inside Sudan require humanitarian assistance, according to figures cited at the conference, with over 20 million suffering from acute hunger. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who met briefly with African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf on the eve of the conference, said Sudan's hunger crisis alone affects "almost half of the country's population." The UN reported that as of the conference, only about 16 percent of the required humanitarian funding for 2026 had been secured.

„This nightmare must end.” — Antonio Guterres via Handelsblatt

„The world's largest man-made humanitarian disaster is currently occurring in Sudan.” — Johann Wadephul via newsORF.at

16 (percent) — Share of required 2026 Sudan aid funding secured before conference

Germany cuts aid budgets even as it hosts the conference The Berlin conference exposed a tension at the heart of Western humanitarian policy: donor nations are simultaneously calling for more aid to Sudan while cutting their own development budgets. Germany halved its humanitarian aid budget since 2025, and the country spent only 0.56 percent of gross domestic product on development cooperation last year, missing the internationally agreed target of 0.7 percent, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The United States under President Donald Trump has withdrawn from nearly all development aid projects, and Wadephul also criticized China for not hosting comparable donor conferences. Hermann Gröhe, president of the German Red Cross, said the halving of German federal humanitarian aid funds risked forcing his organization to scale back operations in Sudan. Development Minister Reem Alabali-Radovan, who has overseen the German development cooperation portfolio since May 2025, framed the conference as a moral imperative.

„We must not forget the people in Sudan.” — Reem Alabali-Radovan via Bayerischer Rundfunk

Wadephul acknowledged the contradiction directly, telling Deutschlandfunk that the simultaneous push for more Sudan funding and the domestic cuts "of course doesn't fit together at all." He said he intended to raise the issue with Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil in discussions over the 2027 federal budget. Global aid flows to Sudan have already declined: countries donated 2.07 billion dollars in 2024, falling to 1.77 billion dollars in 2025 — a figure representing only about 40 percent of actual needs, according to expert estimates cited by Deutsche Welle.

2024: 2.07, 2025: 1.77