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.
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