The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
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
- Exterior wide shot: UN flag alley UN Geneva.
- Wide shot of podium, conference room, Palais des Nations, Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Axel Bisschop, UNHCR Representative in Sudan: “The biggest challenge we will have is Darfur. 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. 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.”
- Close up: journalists typing
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Axel Bisschop, UNHCR Representative in Sudan: “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.”
- Medium shot: journalists typing with monitor in the background
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Axel Bisschop, UNHCR Representative in Sudan: “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. This is where the main majority of the population of UNHCR’s concern is for the refugees.”
- Medium shot: journalist with speaker and moderator visible on the screen in the background.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Brenda Kariuki, UN Food Programme (WFP)’s Regional Communications Officer for East Africa: “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. We are hearing of acute shortages of food, water, fuel, medicines and access to healthcare.”
- Medium shot: cameraperson
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Brenda Kariuki, UN Food Programme (WFP)’s Regional Communications Officer for East Africa: “WFP staff offices and vehicles and equipment and food stocks have come in the direct line of fire, and looting of our warehouses continues. 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. 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.”
- Wide shot: journalists with laptops, with speakers at podium in the background
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Ravina Shamdasani, UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR): “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.”
- Medium shot: technician on laptop, conference room
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Ravina Shamdasani, UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR): “This goes back also to perceived and real ethnic affiliations of the RSF and the SAF, the Sudanese Armed Forces. There have been sporadic clashes between Arab and Masalit communities. What we have seen since the 24th of April is that clashes between the communities are continuing, and we have estimates that some 96 people have already been killed.”
- Wide shot: speaker, podium
- Medium shot: journalist typing
- Cameraperson
Similar Stories
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | OCHA
The UN’s emergency relief chief on Wednesday condemned the “$1 billion-a-day” cost of the war roiling the Middle East, at a time of severe cuts to the global body’s humanitarian work in emergencies and “soaring” needs.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , WHO , UNHCR , UNICEF , WFP
Middle East war: UN warns of ‘toxic rain’ danger from oil depot strikes as mass displacement, aid supply shocks spread
Toxic “black rain” linked to strikes on oil depots, mass displacement and continuing disruption to humanitarian supply chains are upending lives across the Middle East and beyond after 10 days of war in the region, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani on Friday made the following remarks on Israel’s military ground incursions and displacement orders in Lebanon.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , IOM , WHO
The escalating war in the Middle East has heightened growing concerns about further civilian suffering and displacement in the region and far beyond, UN agencies said on Friday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights chief Volker Türk made the following remarks at a press stake out on the current situation in the Middle East.
“The crisis sparked in the Middle East one week ago following US and Israeli attacks on Iran, and Iran’s counterattacks, has been spreading like wildfire. It is causing significant damage in Iran, Israel and at least a dozen other countries, mostly in the Gulf, with risks of major economic and environmental ramifications across the world,” he said.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani on Tuesday made the following remarks on the current situation in the Middle-East.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR , WFP
Schoolgirls killed, thousands displaced, aid routes compromised: UN humanitarians deplore effects of new Middle East war
On the fourth day of Israeli and United States airstrikes against Iran and amid growing violence and instability in the Middle East, the UN urgently called for protection of civilians and warned of growing displacement and humanitarian needs.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM
Well over 1.3 million people have fled Sudan’s ongoing war for South Sudan, the UN migration agency, IOM, reported on Friday, amid rising violence and a massive humanitarian emergency linked to the country’s political crisis.
2
1
2
Statements , Conferences , Edited News | HRC , OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday presented to the 61st Human Rights Council his global update on the human rights situation.
2
1
2
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Thursday presented to the UN Human Rights Council a new report on the human rights situation in occupied Palestinian territory.
2
1
2
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Thursday briefed the Human Rights Council in Geneva on the human rights situation in Sudan: “Nearly three years of brutal conflict have almost turned Sudan into a land of despair. The report I am presenting today is yet another chapter in the chronicle of cruelty. It outlines clear, ongoing patterns of violence against civilians, including killings, rape, and torture. As the fighting has intensified, violations of international law by all parties to the conflict have surged, while accountability has remained practically absent,” he said.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Thursday told the Human Rights Council in Geneva today: “Afghanistan is a graveyard for human rights. The cascade of edicts and laws announced by the de facto authorities since coming to power in 2021 is having a crushing impact on the Afghan people, particularly women and girls.”