Sudan FM says international community has not met commitment with helping refugees

Sudan's Foreign Minister Mariam Almahdi said on Saturday that the international community has not met its commitments towards the millions of refugees in the country.

Speaking during a press conference, Al-Mahdi said Sudan was hosting about 10 million refugees, while the international community, which had promised to help, has only met 30 percent of its commitments.

Our policy towards refugees "is based on providing legal protection for them, preventing any hostile activity towards the governments of their countries, and encouraging voluntary return", she said, adding that granting refugees asylum in Sudan did not mean hostility towards their countries.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had last year pledged to give Sudan millions of US dollars in aid to help the economically struggling country deal with its refugee crisis.

The situation was made worse when heavy rains caused flash floods across the country, causing thousands to become internally displaced.

With a population of around 42 million, Sudan has long been a host for refugees from surrounding nations.

As well as the millions of internally displaced citizens - due to previous conflicts in Darfur and South Sudan before partition - the East African nation shares borders with Ethiopia, Eritrea, Central African Republic, Chad, and Libya.

The country has also allowed in some refugees from Syria and Yemen.