Edited News | UNHCR , UNICEF
Sudan: Warring parties’ accord is ‘first important step toward alleviating human suffering’, says top UN official
The signing of an agreement by the Sudanese warring parties in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah on Thursday night is a “first important step toward alleviating human suffering and protecting the lives of civilians in Sudan”, the UN’s top official in the country, Volker Perthes, said on Friday.
The agreement intended to lay down the groundwork for humanitarian assistance to resume in Sudan and stipulated that parties to the conflict need to facilitate the safe passage of aid supplies, the withdrawal of forces from hospital and clinics and the respectful burial of the dead.
Mr. Perthes, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan and Head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) said that both sides had committed to continuing their talks with the mediation of Saudi Arabia and the United States. They had reconfirmed on Friday morning their intent to stay and continue talks towards a real ceasefire, which would need to be accompanied by a monitoring mechanism.
Mr. Perthes noted that earlier ceasefires and humanitarian pauses had come up short because they had all been unilateral announcements. The next step will be to negotiate a ceasefire which would allow those action from the signed agreement to take place. “This is the first time that we have a mutual declaration – this is not a ceasefire- but a mutual signed declaration of the two warring parties on respecting international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and some more concrete provisions like vacating hospitals and medical facilities, which is good,” Mr. Perthes said. He added that “of course, the aim is to have a ceasefire which is also mutually agreed which I hope would give more stability and more respect to a ceasefire than when it is only based on unilateral (declarations).”
Also on Friday, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that “around 200,000 refugees and returnees have been forced to flee the country with more crossing borders daily, seeking safety”. According to UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado “additionally, hundreds of thousands have been internally displaced with many more people confined to their homes unable to access necessities”.
Ms. Sarrado explained that “the humanitarian response to this emergency is challenging and costly, not only inside Sudan because of insecurity but also as refugees and returnees are arriving in remote border areas in neighboring countries where services and infrastructures are scarce or non-existent. The coming rainy season will make logistics even harder as many roads will become impassible.”
For neighboring Chad, she said that “an additional 30,000 refugees have been arriving in the recent days, this makes the total number of refugees in Chad to about 60,000. The majority are women, and with a large number of women being pregnant.” According to UNHCR, a full 20 per cent of children being between six months and five years caught up in the conflict have been found to be acutely malnourished. To help, additional emergency relief has been airlifted to Chad from the UNHCR warehouse in Dubai."
UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, reported on Friday that a factory in Khartoum producing therapeutic food for children suffering from malnutrition had been burned down, with vital nutritional support incinerated.
“That fire has destroyed 14,500 cartons of ready to use therapeutic food and that was set to be transported to locations for what is life-saving treatment for around 14,500 children for six to eight weeks. You can equate one carton to one child,” said James Elder, UNICEF's spokesperson.
The destroyed factory had been producing 60 per cent of all therapeutic food to treat malnourished children in Sudan. To respond to the malnutrition crisis in Sudan, UNICEF has sent 34,000 cartons of ready-to-use therapeutic food from France.
Despite the selfless efforts by health professionals on the ground, the conflict has continued to have a very severe effect on children, whose access to health care remains limited and unsafe.
Describing the food carton factory incident as “probably the darkest, most distinct illustration to date of how this conflict is threatening the lives of children through multiple means”, UNICEF’s Mr. Elder said that this is certainly “another bitter blow to the most vulnerable children in Sudan.”
It remains unclear whether the factory was torched intentionally or accidentally.
-ends-
STORY: Sudan – Agreement Signed to Protect Civilians: UNITAMS – UNHCR - UNICEF
TRT: 03’21”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
RELEASE DATE: 12 May 2023
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1. Exterior wide shot: UN flag alley UN Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News , B-roll | ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) commemorated 160 years dedicated to connecting the world on Saturday, 17 May in Geneva, Switzerland, during the annual World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OCHA
Gazans ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege
Amid reports that Israeli strikes across Gaza into Friday killed at least 64 people, aid teams once again pushed back strongly at allegations that aid is being diverted to Hamas and pleaded for the blockade to end.
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Deportations over recent months of large numbers of non-nationals from the United States of America, especially to countries other than those of their origin, raise a number of human rights concerns, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Over 50 child malnutrition deaths amid aid blockade; entire generation will be ‘permanently affected’ - WHO
In the aid desert of Gaza, malnourished children are dying while survivors can expect a lifetime of dire health problems, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNICEF , UNRWA
Israel’s aid plan will force Gaza families to choose ‘between displacement and death’ – UN humanitarians
Israel’s plan to take control of relief assistance in Gaza risks increasing the suffering of families already exhausted by 18 months of war by putting their lives in danger and inciting more displacement, using aid as “bait”, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
UN Humanitarians reject Israeli plan to take over aid delivery
The reported Israeli proposal to deliver humanitarian supplies through hubs controlled by the military would be a breach of the core principles of neutral, impartial and independent aid delivery, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News , B-roll | OCHA
Gaza: ‘Worst-case scenario’ unfolds as two-month aid blockade deepens suffering - OCHA
Two months into a devastating aid blockade of Gaza food has run out and people are fighting over water amid relentless bombing, the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said on Friday.
/Includes OCHA footage from Gaza City/
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Children in Gaza are going to bed starving, says aid agency
The biggest UN aid agency in Gaza on Tuesday condemned the two-month Israeli blockade on Gaza that has left families sharing a single tin of food at mealtime and the sick and injured without lifesaving medical help, amid daily bombardment.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine force frontline areas to empty: UNHCR
With Ukrainian cities still reeling from this week’s deadly Russian missile and drone attacks, communities on the front line continue to be targeted too, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday. “We also see attacks on frontline regions increasing and it's, as always, civilians that are bearing the highest cost of the war,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Funding and supply shortfalls for the UN World Food Programme (WFP)'s work in Ethiopia will halt lifesaving treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children at the end of the month. “We are at the breaking point,” it said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Israeli military operations in Lebanon continue to kill and injure civilians, and destroy civilian infrastructure, raising concerns regarding the protection of civilians, the UN Human Rights Office warned today.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNWOMEN , UNDP
Sudan: Aid teams report massive displacement after latest Darfur atrocity; women’s bodies ‘turned into battlegrounds’
In Sudan’s North Darfur, tens of thousands of people have fled a displacement camp following the massacre of civilians and aid workers as the country enters the third year of a conflict marked by horrific levels of sexual violence, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.