Statement from the Tánaiste on the second anniversary of the war in Sudan

People in Sudan have spent two years in a living hell as war rips apart their country.

Sudan is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, yet it is a conflict that does not get enough attention. The figures are difficult to fathom: 25 million people facing hunger, and almost 15 million people displaced from their homes both within Sudan and to neighbouring countries.

Famine has been declared in parts of the country. Sexual violence, starvation, arbitrary killings, torture and child abductions have all become hall-marks of the conflict.

It is horrific to think about the pain and suffering people, including babies and small children, are living through.

This war has to stop. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), as well as their affiliated militias, must come to the table and negotiate an end to this brutal and despicable conflict.

Those countries supplying arms and funds to the warring factions also bear a responsibility to cease their support immediately.

Ireland, with our EU partners, fully supports the efforts of the African Union and United Nations to bring about the ceasefire the people of Sudan so desperately need. We discussed this at length at the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg yesterday.

Ireland will continue to provide humanitarian support to the Sudanese people during these dark days for the country. We have provided €22 million in humanitarian aid since the beginning of 2024.

This aid is vital and is keeping people alive, but the situation needs a long-term solution.

Sudan’s territorial integrity, unity and sovereignty must be respected. Above all, the right of the people of Sudan to choose their leaders, and to live in peace, free from the terror that has been inflicted on them for two years, is paramount.

There must be a mediated process that can get the warring parties around the table to try and end this bloody, horrific conflict that is going on for far too long.

ENDS

15 April 2025