France Announces Support to Sudan during Africa Financing Talks

PARIS - France said it will cancel $5 billion in debt Sudan owes it, and Germany also offered assistance, during back-to-back Paris financing summits targeting Khartoum’s democratic transition and Africa’s economic rebound from the coronavirus pandemic.

The two days of high-level talks near the Eiffel Tower in Paris gather more than a dozen African leaders, along with top representatives of multilateral institutions, the European Union and China. Sudan was on Monday’s agenda. Two years after overthrowing longtime leader Omar al-Bashir, the country faces a raft of challenges — as Sudanese activists like Nasreen El Saim noted in speeches. Among them: inflation topping 300% and shortages of basic goods. A big chunk of its 60 billion dollars in foreign debt is owed to the so-called “Paris Club’ of major creditors. Sudan's transition called inspirational