---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2013 08:34:01 -0400 Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] No Major Humanitarian Breakthrough in Blue Nile To: Group <[email protected]>
1. No Major Breakthrough in the Humanitarian Situation in Blue Nile State The statement attributed to Adnan Khan, the WFP Director in Khartoum, of a “major breakthrough in the humanitarian situation in Blue Nile State” is a misleading statement and does not reflect the actual situation whereby the Sudan government intensified its aerial bombardment and ground attacks in Blue Nile throughout the last month, and they are still continuing to send more troops to Blue Nile including the permanent presence of the Sudan airforce in El Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile. What took place is that Khartoum allowed the WFP to work in a limited area controlled by Khartoum and they made big news out of that. The real news is that Khartoum is denying access for humanitarian assistance to both areas controlled by the SPLM-N in Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains, where around a million of the civilian populations are being denied their right to humanitarian assistance and civilian protection. Khartoum is continuing to bombard them and using food as a weapon to annihilate the civilian populations systematically, which is a war crime in the international humanitarian law. The SPLM-N is for the humanitarian assistance to go for all civilian populations on both sides of the conflict. This will require a well coordinated plan and an agreement between the SPLM-N and the Sudan government and a credible international organization such as the WFP. It is the real task at hand, not entertaining the gimmicks of Khartoum. The SPLM-N would like to re-affirm its solid position to sign an immediate humanitarian cessation of hostilities in accordance to the African Union and UN Security Council Resolution 2046 that will stop the war and end the suffering of the civilian populations all over the two areas, create a good environment for political settlement, and consolidate the buffer zone between the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan as the SPLM-N is effectively in control of 40% of the international border of the Republic of Sudan. In this regard, the SPLM-N is ever ready to cooperate. Yasir Arman Secretary General, SPLM-N April 5, 2013 END1 2. Sudanese rebels say no humanitarian breakthrough in Blue Nile state April 6, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudan people’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) has down played reports of a humanitarian breakthrough in Blue Nile state, where the UN recently began emergency food distribution, stressing that areas under their control are not included in the operation. On Thursday, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced the start of its first humanitarian operation since the conflict erupted in September 2011. The agency is hoping to reach some 51,000 people in dire need of food assistance in Kurmuk and Geissan, which are among the worst affected areas of the conflict. “While we continue to strive for access to all areas, this is still a major breakthrough which will enable us to assist those who continue to be displaced by the conflict”, WFP” Sudan country director Adnan Khan said in a statement on Thursday. However, SPLM-N secretary-general Yasir Arman has minimised the operation, saying there is no major breakthrough in Blue Nile state. He said Khan’s statement about a major breakthrough is “misleading” and “does not reflect the actual situation in Blue Nile state”, Arman said in statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Saturday morning. “What took place is that Khartoum allowed the WFP to work in a limited area controlled by Khartoum and they made big news out of that”, he further said. The conflict between the Sudanese army (SAF) and the SPLM-N, which started three months after violence erupted in South Kordofan, displaced thousands of civilians, with many fleeing to Ethiopia and South Sudan. According to reports emerging from the area, government warplanes continue to bombard rebel-held positions. Khartoum refuses to allow foreign aid groups to open camps for displaced civilians in the Two Areas and has also prevented humanitarian access into the area, saying rebels fighters could potentially benefit from humanitarian assistance. The two parties reached a humanitarian agreement in August 2012 sponsored by an African Union-led mediation team on the basis of a proposal made by the United Nations, African Union and Arab League. However, the deal was never implemented as both sides failed to seal a protocol on the mechanism for its implementation. Arman underlined that Khartoum is still denying humanitarian access to SPLM-N areas in both states “where around a million of the civilian populations are being denied their right to humanitarian assistance and civilian protection”. He further reiterated the SPLM-N’s call for a humanitarian agreement allowing for assistance to all civilians affected by the conflict. “It is the real task at hand, not entertaining the gimmicks of Khartoum”, he added. The rebel leader said his movement is willing to sign an immediate humanitarian cessation of hostilities allowing aid to reach conflict-affected civilians, create a suitable atmosphere for a political settlement and to consolidate the buffer zone recently activated on the border with South Sudan. Khartoum had initially refused to hold direct talks with SPLM-N rebels, but indicated last month it was willing to enter negotiations with the group. The Sudanese government has repeatedly demanded that Juba stop its alleged support of its former allies before it would agree to engage in direct talks. The African Union mediation, which brokered the Sudan-South Sudan peace process, said it is preparing to start talks between the two sides in a bid to reach an agreement on the cessation of hostilities and humanitarian operations in the two areas. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article46104 END2 3. Sudan: Food Aid Reaches Sudan's Blue Nile State for First Time in Over a Year, UN Agency Reports 4 APRIL 2013 UN News Service | allafrica.com In what the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is calling a "major breakthrough," the first UN food rations have reached conflict-affected people in Sudan's Blue Nile state since 2011, when the isolated rural area near the South Sudan border was cut off by insecurity and movement restrictions imposed by the Government. "While we continue to strive for access to all areas, this is still a major breakthrough which will enable us to assist those who continue to be displaced by the conflict or those who have decided to return to their homes and are in dire need of food assistance," said WFP's Country Director in Sudan, Adnan Khan. Fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) broke out in Blue Nile state in September 2011, after neighbouring South Sudan seceded under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended a decades-long civil war. The fighting in Blue Nile displaced and then isolated tens of thousands of people. "We are giving a two-month ration for this first round of distribution, following an assessment which we carried out early last month in two of the areas most severely affected by the conflict, Geissan and Kurmuk," said WFP Programme Officer Arduino Mangoni. He is in Geissan leading a team that monitors the distribution of food to 12,000 people. WFP plans to reach an additional 39,000 people in Kurmuk. Additional WFP staff are in four other localities in Blue Nile state to determine how people are coping with their food needs, what food is available in the market and at what price. "The overall plan is to assist all those we can reach in the six localities before the onset of the rainy season in May," Mr. Khan said. WFP has said it will need an additional $20.5 million to buy 17,000 metric tons of food it estimates will be needed. http://allafrica.com/stories/201304050125.html END3 4. UN food aid reaches Blue Nile state for the first time April 4, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – Urgently needed food aid has reached the people of Sudan’s war-torn Blue Nile state for the first time since conflict broke out in September 2011. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday its teams had begun distributing food assistance to some 51,000 people in the worst-affected areas. Sudanese president Omer Al-Bashir had earlier barred aid agencies from providing humanitarian assistance in Blue Nile and neighbouring South Kordofan on the basis that it could be a pretext to provide food and logistical support to rebels. WFP plans to reach some 12,000 people in Geissan and another 39,000 in Kurmuk, where people remain in dire need of food assistance. The agency says it will need an additional $20.5 million to buy 17,000 metric tonnes of food. “We are giving a two-month ration for this first round of distribution, following an assessment which we carried out early last month in two of the areas most severely affected by the conflict”, said WFP programme officer Arduino Mangoni from Geissan, where he is leading a team monitoring the distribution. In a statement released on Thursday, the agency said another WFP team was currently on the ground was carrying out assessments in four other localities in Blue Nile state where it currently has access. WFP says its assessments will help determine how people have been coping to meet their food needs, what food is available in the market and the prices at which food is sold. Fighting in Blue Nile erupted a few months after South Kordofan when rebel fighters from the Southern-aligned Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) launched an insurgency against the Khartoum government. SPLM-N rebels fought alongside Southern fighters during their struggle to gain independence, but were left on the Sudanese side of the border after South Sudan seceded in July 2011. Khartoum has repeatedly accused Juba of backing the rebels in Blue Nile and South Kordofan. An accusation denied by South Sudan, which says it has severed all ties with the group. MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH WFP Sudan country director Adnan Khan said the agency plans to assist all those it can reach in the state’s six localities before the onset of the rainy season in May. “While we continue to strive for access to all areas, this is still a major breakthrough which will enable us to assist those who continue to be displaced by the conflict or those who have decided to return to their homes and are in dire need of food assistance.” The agency has already been distributing food in limited areas inside South Kordofan after authorities gave their permission, although rebel zones in both states remain off limits. Prior to the conflict, WFP was providing food assistance to some 183,000 vulnerable people in Blue Nile, most of them in Kurmuk, the state’s poorest locality, where there are high levels of food insecurity. HIGH HUMAN COST The fighting in Blue Nile has displaced tens of thousands of people, with many fleeing to South Sudan and Ethiopia to escape the violence. The UN estimates a further one million people have been affected inside South Kordofan and Blue Nile. Despite the high human cost, the conflict in Blue Nile and South Kordofan has largely remained out of the international spotlight due to Khartoum’s tough restrictions on media, independent monitors and aid agencies. In January, a senior UN official spoke out against the crisis in the two states, telling reporters at the time that people there were starving to death and others were surviving on roots and leaves. “This is 2013 and to think that tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people are living in such desperate and deplorable circumstances, and we can’t get in to help them as humanitarian organisations, it’s just not acceptable,” John Gin said after privately briefing the UN Security Council on the situation. The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) stand accused of carrying out indiscriminate aerial bombardments of populated areas in both Blue Nile and South Kordofan and has reportedly used cluster munitions. The New York-based Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect says its troops are responsible for extra-judicial killings, arbitrary arrests, forced displacements and sexual violence against civilians during ground attacks. It says “the SPLM-N has also perpetrated war crimes, including the alleged forced recruitment of civilians living in South Sudanese refugee camps”. The Sudanese government had long rejected negotiations with the SPLM-N but in a rare press conference last week Sudan’s first vice-president, Ali Osman Taha, said insurgents and opposition parties were welcome to join talks on a new constitution for Sudan. Speaking at the opening session of parliament on Monday, Bashir said he was ready to engage in dialogue with opposition groups regardless of their political affiliation, including those who had taken up arms against his government. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article46087 END4 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan, South Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile) +27 82 050 1235 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. 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