Misery deepens for Sudanese civilians as conflict hits three-month mark
GOOBJOOG NEWS | NEW YORK: Sudan has been identified as one of the world’s most difficult places for humanitarian workers to operate following the ongoing conflict that has lasted over the past three months.
In a statement, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said the people of Sudan have endured unspeakable suffering amid violence that is tearing their country apart.
“As the conflict enters its fourth month, the battle lines are hardening, making it ever more difficult to reach the millions of people who need urgent humanitarian assistance.”
The Under Secretary-General said the humanitarian organization, together with local organizations is doing all it can to deliver live saving supplies to the needy people but the violence poses a great challenge.
“We cannot work under the barrel of a gun. We cannot replenish stores of food, water and medicine if brazen looting of these stocks continues. We cannot deliver if our staff are prevented from reaching people in need,” he said.
He noted that Sudan’s suffering will end only when the fighting ends and called for predictable commitments from the parties to the conflict that allow humanitarian organizations to safely deliver aid to people in need, wherever they are.
“Both sides must abide by the Declaration of Commitments they signed in Jeddah to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law,” Griffiths said.
Displaced persons
The organization says more than 3 million people in Sudan, half of them children, have fled the violence, both inside and outside the country and that half of the children remaining in Sudan, numbering some 13.6 million, urgently need humanitarian assistance.
Griffiths further stated that the recent discovery of a mass grave outside West Darfur’s capital, El Geneina, is the latest evidence pointing to a resurgence in ethnic killings in the region saying the international community cannot ignore the harsh echo of history in Darfur.
“We must all redouble our efforts to ensure that the conflict in Sudan does not spiral into a brutal and interminable civil war with grave consequences for the region. The people of Sudan cannot afford to wait,” he concluded.
- By Fauxile Kibet