Germany hosts a Berlin conference on Wednesday to mobilise aid for Sudan’s worsening war-driven crisis, focusing on civilian needs as hunger and poverty soar.
Germany and its international partners are holding a conference in Berlin on Wednesday to mobilise humanitarian aid for Sudan, marking three years since the war between the country's military and a powerful paramilitary force began.
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Representatives from the German government, African countries, the United Nations, international donors, non-governmental organisations and Sudanese civil society are attending the third International Ministerial Conference on Sudan at the Federal Foreign Office.
The conference is co-hosted by Germany, the African Union, the European Union, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.
However, neither the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) nor the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were invited to the talks, which focus on civilian perspectives rather than peace negotiations.
"The parties to the conflict are not even invited, which they also criticise. The focus is explicitly on civilian perspectives," Gerrit Kurtz, an Africa expert, told Euronews.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Foreign Office said the conference will focus on "urgently needed" humanitarian aid for the civilian population.
Germany is one of the world's largest humanitarian donors in Sudan.
At the London Sudan Conference in April 2025, Germany pledged €125 million in humanitarian aid for Sudan and neighbouring countries affected by the crisis, according to the German government.
In October 2025, Germany announced an additional €16 million, bringing its total contribution to €141 million.
Despite international efforts, only 40% of the humanitarian aid plan for Sudan was funded in 2025, leaving a shortfall of €2.2 billion (£1.9 billion), according to German newspaper Merkur.
Budget cuts in many donor countries have contributed to the funding gap. Germany has also severely cut funding for humanitarian aid.
Death toll, displacement and abject poverty
The SAF and RSF have been fighting since 15 April 2023. The RSF has been trying to gain control of Sudan, whilst the SAF controls much of the north and east.
Death toll estimates vary widely, with some estimates as high as 150,000 and the former US envoy to Sudan suggesting as many as 400,000 have been killed since the conflict began.
More than 11 million people have been displaced, giving rise to the worst displacement crisis in the world.
Around 28.9 million people — 61.7% of Sudan's population — are facing acute food shortages, according to the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan.
Around 70% of Sudanese live in poverty, almost twice as many as before the war, according to Luca Renda, the Sudan representative of the United Nations Development Programme.
"Before the war, we were probably looking (at) around 38 percent of people living in poverty, and now we are estimating about 70 percent," Renda said, as the agency released a new report on poverty timed to coincide with the anniversary of the start of the war.
The figures Renda cited were based on a poverty line of about $4 a day, while at least a quarter of the population is believed to be surviving on less than half that, he said.
The UNDP report found that nearly seven million people were pushed into extreme poverty in 2023 alone, while average incomes have fallen to levels last seen in 1992. Extreme poverty rates are now worse than in the 1980s, according to the report.
"These figures are not abstract," Renda said. "They reflect families torn apart, children out of school, livelihoods lost and a generation whose prospects are steadily diminishing."
More than 21 million people in Sudan face acute food insecurity, while two-thirds of the population urgently needs assistance, according to the UN.
Kurtz said it would be important for states that directly or indirectly support the warring parties to be addressed more strongly at the conference.
"There needs to be real accountability, which can also be demanded in personal dialogue in some cases," he said.
Some Sudanese groups have boycotted the conference, with the National Forces Alliance announcing it would not participate due to the Sudanese government's exclusion.
The alliance also criticised what it described as the involvement of organisations linked to the parallel "Taasis" government formed in areas controlled by the RSF.