Three years of war in Sudan, EU calls for immediate ceasefire

Africa, Crime Diary, Europe-Asia, International

AFRICA/INTERNATIONAL (NPA) — The European Union has renewed its call for peace in Sudan as the country enters its third year of war, warning that the conflict continues to devastate lives and undermine the aspirations of the 2018/19 revolution.

In a statement on 21 April 2026, the EU High Representative reaffirmed the Union’s commitment to Sudan’s unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, rejecting unilateral attempts to establish parallel governance that could risk partition. Preventing escalation into a full‑scale regional war, the EU stressed, remains paramount.

The statement highlighted the Sudan Conference in Berlin held on 15 April, which demonstrated international resolve to pressure the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and affiliated militias to end hostilities.

Recalling the October 2025 Council Conclusions, the EU urged all actors to engage in negotiations towards an immediate and lasting ceasefire. It expressed readiness to support credible peace initiatives, including international monitoring mechanisms, and called on external actors to stop fuelling the war.

Sudan’s humanitarian crisis is worsening, with civilians targeted, famine conditions persisting, and mass displacement destabilising communities and the wider region. The EU condemned attacks on civilians, healthcare facilities, aid workers, and humanitarian convoys, stressing that obstruction of relief efforts may constitute war crimes.

At the Berlin Conference, donors pledged €1.5 billion in aid, including €812 million from the EU and its Member States, to support humanitarian response and protect critical infrastructure.

The EU also denounced grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, including systematic sexual and gender‑based violence, with rape used as a weapon of war. It pledged support for accountability mechanisms such as the UN Fact‑Finding Mission and the ICC, noting that sanctions targeting the war economy remain under consideration.

Reaffirming support for Sudanese aspirations for democratic governance, the EU welcomed the Joint Call to End the War and Advance a Sudanese‑Owned Political Process, agreed by civilian actors at the Berlin Conference under the AU‑led Quintet. The statement concluded: “It is long overdue to bring this devastating conflict to an end.”