USAID head: $700 million to support Sudan’s ‘complex and daunting’ transition

Samantha Power, the Executive Director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has affirmed the determination of the Biden administration to move forward with its development partnership with Sudan to accomplish the tasks of the transition, which she described as complex and daunting.

Speaking at a press conference in Khartoum on Sunday. Samantha Power, who worked as a journalist in Darfur 17 years ago, expressed her solidarity and sympathy with the displaced.

She said that during her visit, that started in El Fasher in North Darfur and included a visit to Zamzam camp for the displaced, that she knows the suffering that has been going on for decades, and of those who still dream of returning to their villages after the conditions that enable them to do so are available.

She highlighted that USAID has allocated $700 million to help Sudan meet the major challenges in the transition period, including enhancing food security and supporting vital sectors such as the energy sector.

Power said that the priority at the present time will be issues of humanitarian aid, support for democratic transformation, and contribution to capacity building, reform, and development of institutions.

She added that USAID resources will also be made available to implement transitional justice processes and institutions, which must include societal reconciliations to restore social peace and hold accountable those who committed crimes in the civil war and during the popular revolution.

Power began her press conference by expressing her pride in working for many years to pursue and document the violations that occurred in Darfur Power, met with the President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, PM Abdallah Hamdok, FA Minister Maryam El Sadig El Mahdi, and a number of other senior officials.

In Khartoum, Power met young activists who suffered serious injury when attacked during the protests that would ultimately help bring down the Al Bashir regime. The activists pleaded for transitional justice for crimes committed during the revolution, according to a USAID statement.

During her visit to Darfur, Power met the Wali of North Darfur, various groups of organisations and community entities in Darfur, including politicians, executives, displaced people, and journalists, on the first day of her visit to Sudan on Saturday. Samantha emphasised that USAID will continue to provide vital support to families in Zamzam camp.

In a post on social media, USAID pointed out that Power sat down with a group of women journalists who recently participated in a USAID professional development program. The Administrator also visited a community centre in El Fasher and spoke with Sudanese young people about their transitional justice advocacy work and the role of youth in charting a path for Sudan’s democratic future.