On Dec. 19, 2024, just weeks after the United States election, outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid a visit to the United Nations Security Council bearing a gift: $200 million in response to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in Sudan, bringing the total U.S. contribution to more than $2.3 billion since the country descended into civil war last year.
“The world cannot — must not — look away from the humanitarian catastrophe that is happening in Sudan on our watch, before our eyes,” Blinken told the 15-nation council at the time, in a statement that was removed this week from the State Department’s website.
The U.S. offering may have been designed to pad global humanitarian accounts in anticipation of coming cuts by a Trump administration that sees foreign aid as handouts to the undeserving. But in hindsight, it appears to be more than that: A final goodwill gesture marking the end of a decades-long American era of serving as a global safety net for the world’s neediest.
About the author
Colum Lynch
Colum Lynch is an award-winning reporter and Senior Global Reporter for Devex. He covers the intersection of development, diplomacy, and humanitarian relief at the United Nations and beyond. Prior to Devex, Colum reported on foreign policy and national security for Foreign Policy Magazine and the Washington Post. Colum was awarded the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital reporting for his blog Turtle Bay. He has also won an award for groundbreaking reporting on the U.N.’s failure to protect civilians in Darfur.
