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Sudan crisis: UN’s top humanitarian official urges safe passage agreements for aid convoys

Top UN humanitarian official Martin Griffiths on Wednesday urged Sudan’s warring parties to commit to the safe passage of relief supplies, as terrified civilians continue to flee the country and millions face being pushed into hunger, after more than two weeks of fighting.

“We can and should get assistance to the different parts of Darfur, to Khartoum. Yes, we can and should, and the agency representatives I met here this morning are unanimous about that. But to do that, we need access, we need airlifts, we need supplies that don’t get looted,” said emergency relief chief Griffiths.

Looting fears

Speaking from Port Sudan, Mr. Griffiths noted that the UN World Food Programme (WFP) had reported that six trucks heading to Darfur had been looted on Wednesday “despite assurances of safety and security”, amid ongoing conflict between the national armed forces of Sudan’s ruling general and his deputy’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Since violence erupted on 15 April, more than 334,000 people are believed to be internally displaced and more 100,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries, according to UN aid coordination office, OCHA.

To help the most vulnerable communities in Sudan and to prevent further looting of relief supplies, Mr. Griffiths insisted on the need “to be sure that we have the commitments publicly and clearly given by the two militaries to protect humanitarian assistance, to deliver on the obligations to allow supplies of people to move”. This commitment should apply even without a formal national ceasefire in place, he continued, by means of local arrangements “that can be depended on”.

Desperate health needs

Highlighting the scale of need in areas affected by heavy shooting and airstrikes, the UN relief chief reiterated that restoring medical assistance topped the list of priorities in the capital, Khartoum, where more than six in 10 health facilities are closed, and only around one in seven is operating normally. “Many patients with chronic diseases, like kidney disease, diabetes and cancer, are unable to access the health facilities or medicines they need,” OCHA reported.

Providing safe water also remains a vital priority, to encourage communities to stay where they were so that they can receive help. “We have a plan for how we get supplies to these places” across the country including Darfur, Mr. Griffiths said. “We know how we can do this and we will start doing it.”

Rainy season deadline

Humanitarians fear that unless such aid guarantees from the warring sides are secured, the situation in Sudan could deteriorate further.

“(The UN Food and Agriculture Organization) FAO and the UN World Food Programme, talked to me today about the importance of getting food and seeds into places which are going to be hard to reach because of the rainy season that’s coming in June, and with the planting season, which is also coming from May to July,” Mr. Griffiths said.

“We will still require agreements and arrangements to allow for movement of staff and supplies….It’s a volatile environment. So we need those commitments that that is one of my obligations, I think, in this visit to Sudan, and the region. And then we need to absolutely embed those commitments into clear local arrangements. I think you will find if we have good funding that we will be able to do exactly what the people of Sudan require us to do and are entitled to see us do.”

ends

USG Martin Griffiths Press conference on Sudan - OCHA

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