UK accused of breaking aid promise to Sudan's refugees

The UK has been accused of backsliding on a promise to provide significant foreign aid to the Sudanese people blighted by civil war, after support reaching neighbouring South Sudan, which is hosting huge numbers of refugees, was slashed.

- NICK FERRIS CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT

When it was announced last February that the aid budget was being cut from 0.5 to 0.3 per cent of gross national income, the crisis in Sudan was cited as one of several priority regions, alongside Ukraine and Gaza, that the UK would continue to support. When the UK hosted a Sudan conference in April, the government promised that it would not “look away”.

Since then, the crisis in Sudan has continued to spill over to its neighbours. More than 150,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 2023, and more than 12 million have been forced from their homes. The latest data indicates that 1.3 million people have arrived in South Sudan seeking safety. Yet, this year, the amount of aid received was its lowest since the country’s establishment in 2011.

The UK has slashed aid to South Sudan by more than 40 per cent, from $131m (£97m) in 2024 to $75m (£56m) in 2025, according to data tracked by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Other major donors to cut aid include the US - slashed from $708m to $283m - and Germany - from $102m to $63m - according to OCHA. “Humanitarian aid is a lifeline for people in South Sudan, and neither the system nor the people were at all ready for these cuts,” Shabnam Baloch, country director for Oxfam South Sudan, told The Independent.

“As I have travelled around, engaging a lot of different donors to provide more money, I have found there is a lot of donor fatigue, with many arguing that they have poured billions into the country with too few apparent results.”