Two weeks since fighting erupted between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), United Nation humanitarian aid agencies warned on Friday that the ongoing conflict is having a devastating impact on the civilian population, including refugees and internally displaced people across the country. Heavy fighting and insecurity have driven tens of thousands to flee in search of safety.
“The biggest challenge we will have is Darfur,” said Axel Bisschop, UNHCR Representative in Sudan. “Darfur has already faced the wrath of intercommunal conflict and displacement. Now with this added on crisis, the humanitarian situation will be very, very difficult.” Mr Bisschop added that “we also are concerned that the impact of communal violence is going to increase and that we might have some situations which will repeat in relation to what we had a couple of years ago”.
The UN refugee agency said that is extremely disturbing that desperately needed assistance - especially for newly displaced and vulnerable people like women and children - cannot be provided and that innocent civilians will continue to suffer.
“We are also very, very worried about the continued movement both internal displacement but also of refugees that now leave places like Khartoum but also Darfur to seek safety in other areas, and we have already seen that some of the camps especially in the White Nile have received new refugees,” said the UNHCR’s Sudan Representative.
UN agencies are temporarily relocating their staff to safer regions inside and outside Sudan. A leadership team has set up a hub in Port Sudan where staff will continue to monitor the situation while preparing to resume the humanitarian operations, when possible.
“We have all been forced to pause some of the programmes especially in Darfur, in Khartoum and also in the Kordofans, but we are still operating in the White Nile, Blue Nile, East Sudan, Gedaref and Kassala,” said Mr Bisschop. “This is where the main majority of the population of UNHCR’s concern is for the refugees.”
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and other humanitarian actors have called on all parties to the conflict to take immediate steps to stop the fighting, restore calm and enable humanitarians to safety carry out their mandate.
“As the fighting rages on in parts of Sudan, our humanitarian operations in the country are actually impossible at a time when a third of the country is in desperate need of assistance,” said Brenda Kariuki, WFP’s Regional Communications Officer for East Africa. “We are hearing of acute shortages of food, water, fuel, medicines and access to healthcare.”
Because of the current crisis, millions more will need humanitarian assistance, WFP has warned. While a ceasefire meant a relative reprieve in the fighting, clashes continue to be reported in densely populated areas of Khartoum, Bahri, Omdurman and towns in Darfur and North Kordofan.
“WFP staff offices and vehicles and equipment and food stocks have come in the direct line of fire, and looting of our warehouses continues,” said Ms. Kariuki. “To date, we know up to 4,000 metric tonnes of food meant for vulnerable people has been looted from our warehouses, and at least ten vehicles and six trucks which transport food have been stolen”. She added that “this is unacceptable, and it is takes away much needed humanitarian aid meant for the most vulnerable Sudanese and refugees who desperately need this lifesaving assistance.”
With WFP’s air operations grounded, the entire humanitarian community’s movement is severely disrupted.
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Friday that it is deeply alarming that inmates in Sudan have been released from, or escaped from, a number of prisons.
OHCHR’s spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said that “when you see continued impunity for serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, it emboldens the perpetrators, and we are very concerned that prison releases or escapes have also led to potential war criminals having been released. This is of deep concern.”
According to OHCHR, the hostilities between the RSF and SAF have triggered intercommunal violence.
“This goes back also to perceived and real ethnic affiliations of the RSF and the SAF, the Sudanese Armed Forces,” Ms. Shamdasani said. “There have been sporadic clashes between Arab and Masalit communities. What we have seen since 24 April is that clashes between the communities are continuing, and we have estimates that some 96 people have already been killed.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) also reported about 25 verified attacks on health facilities. Since 15 April, eight health care workers have been killed and 18 others injured following these attacks.
-ends-
STORY: Sudan Update: UNHCR - WFP - OHCHR
TRT: 03’49”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
RELEASE DATE: 28 April 2023
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Institutionalised forced labour by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea constitutes grave violations of human rights – UN report
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Time is running out for starving civilians in Sudan, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday, while talks involving the country’s warring parties continue in Geneva this week.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
DRC faces a severe humanitarian crisis with 25M in need and rising conflict-related issues.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
A gimmer of good news emerged from Gaza on Tuesday as patients returned to at a newly reopened UN health centre in Khan Younis, six months after it was severely damaged and forced to close by heavy fighting, the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN condemns attacks on Kyiv hospitals, calls for immediate action to protect civilians.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO
In Gaza, soaring temperatures, hunger and unsanitary conditions present an ever more deadly threat to a population under constant attack, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WMO , IFRC
Hurricane Beryl smashes into Caribbean, turns sights on Mexico As Hurricane Beryl’s destructive path shifted to Mexico on Friday after roiling the Caribbean, UN agencies and partners said that the emergency response was underway, before warning that a very long and damaging hurricane season looks increasingly likely.
1
1
2
Edited News | IOM , mcc , UNHCR
Refugees and migrants continue to face extreme forms of violence, exploitation and death on sea and on land across Africa as they attempt to leave the continent, UN agencies said on Friday, in an appeal to border authorities to do more to protect them.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk at the 56th Human Rigths Council, made the following update on the situation of human rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
New evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army for areas in southern Gaza are expected to impact 250,000 people, including eastern Khan Younis and Rafah, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: People are desperate, they need everything, says UN aid agency Panic and desperation now grip ordinary Gazans struggling to survive, UN humanitarians said on Friday, amid fuel shortages of fuel and dwindling supplies that have prevented aid teams from doing their job.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
UN aid teams and partner organizations remain deeply committed to delivering lifesaving supplies into Gaza, despite the increasing dangers of working there, the Organization’s top aid official said on Wednesday.