US to provide another $424 million in Sudan aid

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States will give a further $424 million in humanitarian help to the people of Sudan, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced on Wednesday.

War erupted in mid-April last year from a power struggle between the Sudanese army (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule.

"More than 25 million Sudanese face acute hunger. Many are in famine ... and some 11 million have fled their homes in what has become the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet,” said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield.

"We must compel the warring parties to accept humanitarian pauses in al-Fashir, Khartoum, and other highly vulnerable areas, eliminate barriers to humanitarian access along all routes, and put down their weapons and come to the negotiating table," she said.

The announcement takes total U.S. funding since the war began to $2 billion, the U.S. mission to the U.N. said.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Howard Goller)