UN puts pressure on Sudanese generals to commit to humanitarian aid
The United Nations (UN) is pressing the two generals that lead opposing, warring military factions in Sudan to publicly commit to “clear, definitive agreements that would allow for the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid in the country.
Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, who is in the region, is seeking to meet face-to-face with both General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan who leads the Sudanese Armed Forces and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group (RSF).
The UN continues to warn of an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe with over 550 dead and almost 5 000 injured, while tens of thousands have already fled the country. At least one-third of Sudan’s 46 million people are in need of humanitarian aid, amid a short supply of essential goods and services and widespread looting of humanitarian supplies in the country. The UN now seeks to have its operational requirements met by both warring factions.
Martin Griffiths adds, “Number one, clear, definitive agreements, commitments in writing in public of the parties, to protect the movement of humanitarian supplies, humanitarian workers, to stop the looting that happens of humanitarian stocks so that aid agencies can do the job they only know best. And number two, the generosity of the international community of governments around the world to pay for the needs of the Sudanese people who have such suffering under such difficulties at this time.
Griffiths says he hopes to meet both Generals al-Burhan and Dagalo face-to-face in the next days to press the humanitarian case even if proposed ceasefires are not observed.
“Humanitarians universally do this even when there is no formal national ceasefire. We will still require agreements and arrangements to allow for the movement of staff and supplies. We will need to have agreement at the highest level and very publicly and we will need to deliver those commitments into local arrangements that can be depended on. We need access. We need airlift; we need supplies that don’t get looted. The World Food Program today, James, informed me 6 trucks of theirs which were going to Darfur were looted en route despite insurance of safety and security. So, it’s a volatile environment, so we need those commitments that are one of my obligations, I think in this visit to Sudan and the region.”
Earlier, UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres called on the international community to pressure both leaders to stop fighting as the human rights impact of the conflict is now framed as equally catastrophic, with trust between the parties obliterated.
Source: SABC
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