Sudan: Conflict could undermine economic success and development in the region, says African Development Bank

Members of the African Development Bank (ADB) group warned this Friday that the conflict in Sudan threatens to undo economic and development gains in the region and joined the African Union in calling for an end to the war.

The announcement was made at the end of the Group’s annual meetings, where Governors spoke on behalf of the more than 50 member countries of the African Development Bank’s Bank and Fund Group.

“An escalation of the conflict in Sudan could weaken and reverse economic and development gains in the region,” they said, joining the “African Union call for an end to the conflict” and welcoming the start of preliminary talks between the two opposing sides.

The number of internally displaced people in Sudan due to the war exceeds one million

More than five weeks of war caused at least 1,800 deathsmore than a million displaced and refugees were reported at the latest, and fighting continued this Friday between the military and paramilitaries vying for power in Sudan, especially in the capital, despite several days of ceasefire.

The central theme of the AfDB annual meetings was this year. mobilize private financial resources to combat climate change and supporting green growth on the continent, and the devastating effects of weather events in recent years have also been the focus of the closure.

AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina, at a press conference reaffirming the organization’s commitment in this area, emphasized the increase and severity of extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change and natural disasters.

The governors, in turn, referred in the final communiqué to “the most recent of these events (…) the devastating Cyclone Freddy, which has resulted in hundreds of deaths, population displacement and infrastructure destruction in Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar.”, and severe droughts in many parts Africa.

A one-week ceasefire has been in effect in Sudan since Monday.

From this perspective, they called for “urgent action to double the collective supply of climate change finance, to adapt and put in place new financing mechanisms to deal with loss and damage” in line with the decisions of the conferences. United Nations on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.

Concluding the week’s work in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, the leaders of the group announced that Kenya will organize the 2024 annual meetings, which will be held from 27 to 31 May in Nairobi.