Svenja Schulze has just returned from Chad, which has shown "a lot of solidarity" with refugees fleeing the war in neighboring Sudan. Speaking to DW, the German development minister says the international community needs to do more to end the war in Sudan.
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00:00I'm joined here in studio by Germany's Minister for Economic Development, Svenja Schulze,
00:04who you saw in that report. She's just returned from Chad. Minister, welcome to DW News Africa.
00:11It's really good to have you here. We appreciate you coming in. We've heard that this is the
00:17biggest humanitarian crisis on the planet right now. The scale of this is just astonishing.
00:23I wonder if you could just share with us some of your impressions having returned,
00:27seeing the impact that this war is having. What is it that you told your colleagues in
00:34the German cabinet? What is the message you brought back home?
00:38First of all, it was really heartbreaking to see all the refugees on the border. The Chad
00:43is one of the poorest countries of the world, and they opened the doors for all the refugees
00:49from Sudan. We see mostly women and children. It was so heartbreaking because we can see
00:57what experience they had on the way from Sudan to Chad. They all experienced violence,
01:04violence in a really hard way. The Chad has such a lot of solidarity with these refugees.
01:15That is something we should be aware of. The world should see that. I think it is one of the
01:22tasks of a development minister like I am, from a very rich country, to highlight the situation and
01:30to make the world see what is happening in Chad, what is happening in Sudan.
01:36What is happening in Sudan is effectively two generals fighting over power,
01:42holding an entire country hostage. Then we have an international system
01:48that seemingly isn't responding to that. On the part of NGOs, they see this as
01:55it's being ignored to an extent. Are rich countries like Germany ignoring this crisis?
01:59In a world where you have war in the Middle East, war in Europe, is Sudan just not a priority?
02:05Sudan is a priority. We do a lot to help to deal with that conflict and to make the pressure
02:12on the two groups to stop the war. We do a conference in Paris together with France and the
02:19EU. We organized a pressure on a meeting with the foreign ministers. The world needs to see
02:28what has happened there and need to do more pressure on the parties there. The consequences
02:35are so hard to the people. Most of the people who are affected are normal farmers, are the
02:42population there. That needs to stop. Therefore, we need the international community to take more
02:50awareness to this heartbreaking situation. Awareness, but also there are calls for all
02:56countries to immediately seize direct and indirect supplies of arms and ammunition to
03:03the warring parties in Sudan. That's something that you support. What is Germany doing in this
03:09regard? Amnesty International, an investigation earlier in November found that there are also
03:16French-made weapon systems being used in the war in Sudan. I hear of this report. That is why we
03:23bring together in Paris, for example, all the neighboring countries, all the countries who
03:30we need on the table. We have an agreement of principles that we don't deliver weapons to
03:38these parties in the war. That needs to be done now because if the international community stops
03:46to deliver weapons, that will help in that war. These principles that we agreed about in Paris,
03:54and foreign ministers agreed about that, that is an important step forward, but now it needs to
03:59take into account that there are these principles and that that is important. Just a final word for
04:07the situation in Sudan. Is there hope for people in Sudan, for the young men and women who
04:16are living this horror? Seeing all the solidarity that is coming from Chad, seeing what such a poor
04:23country is doing for the refugees, I think that should be an argument for the rest of the world
04:29to take more awareness of this heartbreaking situation. It is needed that the pressure from
04:35the world goes to the two parts of the conflict in Sudan, of the war in Sudan, and make pressure
04:45that they stop that because it is hard to see what that means to the people.
04:50Minister Svenja Schiltze, we appreciate you being on DW News Africa. Thank you.