France to Host Humanitarian Conference for Sudan

Sudanese military personnel are positioned near a bridge gate during a sit-in protest outside the Defense Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 15, 2019. - AFP
Sudanese military personnel are positioned near a bridge gate during a sit-in protest outside the Defense Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 15, 2019. - AFP
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France to Host Humanitarian Conference for Sudan

Sudanese military personnel are positioned near a bridge gate during a sit-in protest outside the Defense Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 15, 2019. - AFP
Sudanese military personnel are positioned near a bridge gate during a sit-in protest outside the Defense Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 15, 2019. - AFP

France is to host a humanitarian conference to provide aid to war-torn Sudan in April, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said on Wednesday.

"We will host a humanitarian conference in Paris on April 15 for Sudan and neighbouring countries to help resolve this dramatic humanitarian crisis," he told the lower house of parliament, without providing more details.

"It should not become a forgotten crisis."

War that broke out in April last year between Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, his former deputy and commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, has killed thousands and sparked a humanitarian disaster.

Around 25 million people -- more than half the population -- need aid, including nearly 18 million who face acute food insecurity, according to UN numbers.

The fighting has caused 1.6 million people to flee abroad, many to neighbouring Chad and Egypt, and displaced 6.1 million from their homes within the country, the United Nations says.

The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that the lean season during summer could trigger catastrophic levels of hunger.



First Mpox Case Detected in Azerbaijan

A test tube labelled "Mpox virus positive" is held in this illustration taken August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
A test tube labelled "Mpox virus positive" is held in this illustration taken August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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First Mpox Case Detected in Azerbaijan

A test tube labelled "Mpox virus positive" is held in this illustration taken August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
A test tube labelled "Mpox virus positive" is held in this illustration taken August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

A case of mpox has been found in Azerbaijan, Interfax news agency reported on Saturday, adding that the patient had been isolated and was receiving treatment in hospital.
Interfax quoted Azerbaijan's Ministry of Health and Management Union of Medical Territorial Units (TABIB) as saying the patient was a 22-year-old citizen of Azerbaijan who had been on a tourist trip abroad from Jan. 2-11.
A few days after his return, he went to a clinic in Azerbaijan's capital Baku complaining of weakness, fever, a skin rash, enlarged lymph nodes and muscle pains, Interfax reported.
The ministry and TABIB did not specify where the patient had been abroad.
According to Reuters, Interfax said family members who had been in contact with the patient had shown no signs of the disease and were under home observation.
Mpox is a viral infection that spreads through close contact, and typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. It is usually mild, but it can be lethal.
In August, the World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency after an mpox outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo that had spread to neighboring countries and beyond.