The United Nations humanitarian chief is calling on Sudan's rival military leaders to publicly commit themselves to the safe delivery of humanitarian assistance to millions of people struggling to survive amid escalating fighting. At the end of a visit to the region, Martin Griffiths, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said Wednesday the Sudanese people face a humanitarian catastrophe.
Speaking from Port Sudan, Griffiths said it was essential that the leaders of the two warring factions publicly back the efforts of humanitarian agencies to provide relief to those in need. He said he was already working on a plan to get supplies where they are needed, and that he sought "to be sure that we have the commitments publicly and clearly given by the two militaries to protect humanitarian assistance."
The UN humanitarian chief said it was important for them "to deliver on the obligations to allow supplies for people to move, and that we should do that … even when there is no formal natural cease-fire."
Griffiths and Volker Perthes, UN special representative for Sudan, spoke Wednesday by phone with Sudanese Armed Forces leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
In their talks, Griffiths said they stressed the need for humanitarian aid to reach the people. But for that to happen, Griffiths said he told the generals that strong guarantees on the safety of aid workers and supplies had to be backed up with agreements from the top.
"It seems to me that getting those commitments is a condition precedent for large-scale humanitarian action," Griffiths said. "And I say large-scale because humanitarian action is continuing day by day by day, and it has been a mistake to suggest that it stopped."
The humanitarian chief said the UN was hampered in its ability to provide for the Sudanese people because of severe funding shortages. He said only $200 million of the U.N.'s $1.7 billion appeal for Sudan, which was launched before this crisis, has been received. He said money is needed to get assistance to the different parts of Darfur and to hardest-hit urban areas, especially Khartoum.
Besides money, Griffiths said, "We need access, we need airlift, we need supplies that do not get looted."
The World Food Programme (WFP) reported Wednesday that nearly 17,000 tons of food had been stolen from its warehouses across Sudan, and it is still trying to establish what quantities of supplies remain. Before the fighting erupted, WFP had more than 80,000 tons of stocks in the country.
"We need to be very, very clear about commitments made to ensure the safety of moving the supplies from Port Sudan, or indeed from Chad to Darfur to Port Sudan and westwards to places of need", he reiterated.
Griffiths said medicines, food, clean water, fuel and other critical commodities are desperately needed. The Food and Agriculture Organization and WFP told him Wednesday about "the importance of getting the food and seeds into places which are going to be hard to reach because of the rainy season that is coming in June," and corresponds with the planting season.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has told reporters in Kenya the fighting in Sudan needs to stop now, before more people die and the conflict becomes a regional one. During a visit to the east African country on Wednesday, Guterres called on the warring parties in Sudan to put the interests of the Sudanese people first.
"The Sudanese are facing a humanitarian catastrophe, hospitals destroyed, humanitarian warehouses looted, million facing food insecurity," he said.
Guterres reiterated the immediate need for aid to be allowed into Sudan with secure and immediate access, so that humanitarians can distribute it to people who need it the most. For that reason, he said, both Sudanese generals need to put an end to the more than two weeks of fighting.
"The fighting needs to stop and to stop now before more people die and this conflict explodes into an all-out war that could affect the regions for years to come," Guterres said.
South Sudan has brokered a seven-day cease-fire between Sudanese Army Chief al-Burhan and RSF commander General Dagalo, also known as Hemedti. There are no indications that the new cease-fire will work, when previous cease-fires have seen fighting continue. On Thursday, heavy clashes were reported in and around the capital Khartoum despite the weeklong truce agreed to by both sides in the conflict.
Sudan's Federal Ministry of Health reports at least 528 people have been killed and 4,620 injured since April 15, although UN agencies say they believe the toll to be much higher.
Since clashes between the two warring factions began more than two weeks ago, at least 434,000 people have been displaced. While at least 334,000 people are on the move inside Sudan, more than 100,000 have fled to neighboring countries in search of assistance and protection.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) warned today that the fighting could cause 860,000 people to flee the northeastern African state. Most of the Sudanese are seeking refuge in the seven countries that border Sudan, among them are Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Egypt and Ethiopia.
UNHCR and partners on Thursday appealed for $445 million to assist refugees and returnees through October this year. The updates were made in a preliminary summary of the Regional Refugee Response Plan for Sudan, which was presented to donors today.
The appeal will primarily cover immediate support in Chad, South Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic. The Regional Response Plan was drawn up by UNHCR together with 134 partners, including UN agencies, national and international non-governmental organizations, and civil society groups.
Humanitarian needs in Sudan were already at record levels before the situation deteriorated, with some 15.8 million people – about a third of the population – requiring humanitarian assistance. A quarter of Sudan's population - 11.7 million people - were severely food insecure.
Before the fighting started, Sudan hosted about 1.2 million refugees, one of the largest refugee populations in Africa, some 3.7 million Sudanese were internally displaced, mostly in the Darfur region that has experienced a volatile security situation since 2003. More than 800,000 Sudanese had fled to neighboring countries.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.
Further information
Full text: Remarks at Press Briefing by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths - Port Sudan, 3 May 2023, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, press release, May 3, 2023
https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/remarks-press-briefing-under-secretary-general-humanitarian-affairs-and-emergency-relief-coordinator-martin-griffiths-port-sudan-3-may-2023
Full text: Sudan Situation: Regional Refugee Response Plan, Preliminary Summary & Inter-Agency Requirements (May-October 2023), UNHCR, released May 4, 2023
https://reporting.unhcr.org/document/4771