• Foreign Secretary doubles aid for frontline responders and Sudanese aid groups up to £15 million to support the hardest to reach areas in Sudan
• UK will pledge £146 million humanitarian funding for Sudan this year
• Yvette Cooper demands warring parties cease bloodshed as she arrives in Berlin for the International Sudan Conference, on the third anniversary of Sudan’s war

The Foreign Secretary today (15 April) will announce the UK’s £146 million aid pledge for Sudan to support frontline aid workers providing lifesaving support to Sudanese people as she travels to Berlin for the International Sudan Conference. 

Sudan now faces the worst humanitarian crisis of the century. Soaring famine, mass displacement, and atrocities against civilians described by the UN Fact Finding Mission into El-Fasher as bearing “the hallmarks of genocide”, including mass killings, ethnic targeting, and systemic sexual violence against women and girls.

The Foreign Secretary confirmed the UK will protect its £146 million humanitarian package for Sudan, including more than doubling support for frontline responders and local aid groups, including Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs), to reach over 1.8 million people in need, helping fund lifesaving work to those impacted by violence and starvation. ERRs work neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood to deliver food, water, medicine, sanitary supplies and psychological support in some of the hardest to reach areas.

The UK has also doubled funding to local human rights defenders to ensure they can play a crucial role in the documentation and investigation of violations.

The Foreign Secretary said:

"After 3 years of brutal war, the world can no longer claim it does not know what is happening in Sudan.

"Today, in Berlin, I will call for the international community to join in a shared resolve: to secure a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution – to stop the suffering and allow the people of Sudan to determine their own peaceful future.

"Sudan’s civilians are already doing their part. Their courage is inspiring. That is why we are protecting the UK’s humanitarian support to Sudan and doubling our funding to these local responders, helping them to reach nearly 2 million people. The world must now stand with them and renew our determination to bring this war to an end."

Since the conflict began, UK aid has reached more than 2.5 million people: children pulled back from the brink of starvation, delivering water and medicine to hard-to-reach areas, and providing women and girl survivors of sexual violence with protection and care.  

The Foreign Secretary will use the conference to galvanise global support for Sudan, driven by an immediate moral imperative and pressing global security concerns. She will call for greater pressure on the warring parties, demanding they tear down the barriers to aid access and cease attacks on civilians and aid workers, warning of consequences should they fail to agree a credible way forward for a peaceful and civilian-led Sudan.

Background

• the UK has allocated £146 million aid funding for Sudan in the financial year 2026 to 2027, prioritising Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding to Sudan and maintaining the UK’s commitment as a leading donor to the conflict response
• the UK has more than doubled the proportion directly allocated to Sudanese local aid groups from £6 million up to £15 million, including to the Emergency Response Rooms through our partnership with non-governmental organisation Proximity 2 Humanity
• the UK has also doubled funding to local Sudanese human rights defenders, who play a crucial role in the documentation and investigation of violations, and shining a spotlight on the suffering of affected communities, through UK support to the Sudan Witness project

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