New York February 27(Darfur24)
A UN official said on Wednesday that the ongoing conflict in Sudan for nearly two years has caused enormous suffering and turned parts of the country into hell.
She stressed that the people of Sudan deserve better from their leaders and the international community.
During her briefing to the Security Council meeting to discuss the situation in Sudan, Edem Wosorno, Director of the Operations and Advocacy Division at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, recalled the humanitarian dimensions of this crisis, including the displacement of more than 12 million people, including 3.4 million who fled across Sudan’s borders, and the suffering of more than half of the country – 24.6 million people – from severe hunger.
She said: “In North Darfur, eight months after the Security Council adopted Resolution 2736, civilians are still under attack. Violence has escalated in and around the Zamzam IDP camp, which is estimated to be hosting hundreds of thousands of civilians, and famine conditions have been confirmed there.
She warned that satellite imagery confirms the use of heavy weapons in and around the Zamzam camp in recent weeks, and the destruction of market facilities inside the camp. She added, “Terrified civilians, including humanitarian workers, were unable to leave the area when the fighting intensified.”
Executions of civilians
The UN official explained that civilians continue to be directly affected by the ongoing heavy fighting in parts of Khartoum, noting that the UN Human Rights Office has verified reports of summary executions of civilians in areas that have changed hands.
“We remain deeply concerned about the grave risks faced by local responders and community volunteers, in Khartoum and elsewhere,” said Wosorno.
She also noted that in the south of the country, there are reports of fighting spreading to new areas in North Kordofan and South Kordofan, posing further risks to civilians and complicating the movement of humanitarian workers and supplies, stressing that “this must end.”
Three requests
The UN official put three main requests before the Council, the first of which is the protection of civilians, calling on the Council and all influential member states to take immediate action to ensure that all actors comply with international humanitarian law and protect civilians and the infrastructure and services on which they depend.
The second request is access, adding that “there is a need for real implementation of repeated commitments to facilitate and enable unhindered humanitarian access to civilians in need.”
Wusorno said that the third request is “funding, and as we have said, the scale of needs in Sudan is unprecedented and requires an unprecedented mobilization of international support, including flexible funding.”
The UN official concluded her briefing to the Security Council members by saying: “Now more than ever, the people of Sudan need your action.”
Aid Suspension
For its part, the World Food Programme said in a statement on Wednesday that it had been forced to temporarily suspend the distribution of life-saving food and nutrition assistance in the famine-hit Zamzam camp due to heavy fighting.
The programme said that the escalating violence in and around the camp had left its partners with no choice but to evacuate staff for their own safety.
The programme’s regional director for East Africa and acting country director for Sudan, Laurent Bukera, said: “Without immediate assistance, thousands of desperate families in Zamzam could starve to death in the coming weeks. We must resume the delivery of life-saving assistance in and around Zamzam camp safely, quickly and on a large scale. For this to happen, the fighting must stop, and humanitarian organisations must be given security guarantees.”
The World Food Programme said that it had been able to move only one convoy of humanitarian supplies into the camp since then, despite repeated attempts.
He said poor road conditions during the rainy season, “deliberate obstruction by the Rapid Support Forces,” and fighting with the Sudanese Armed Forces’ joint forces along the route to Zamzam camp had thwarted many of his attempts to reach the camp. The closure of the Adré border in the first half of 2024 also prevented WFP from prepositioning food in the camp.
“We will spare no effort in our efforts to assist millions of people facing famine or at risk across Sudan. We are trying every possible way to get vital assistance into the hands of people whose lives are at stake,” said Bukera.
To help when insecurity prevents access, WFP has launched an online self-registration link for digital cash transfers in North Darfur.
The initiative helps ensure people can access assistance when the agency has to suspend operations until conditions allow safe passage for humanitarian workers and convoys, he said.