The UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, on Wednesday warned the UN Security Council (UNSC) that continued bombings in South Kordofan would disrupt agriculture and cause hunger.

She warned of a ‘dire’ situation in South Kordofan, Blue Nile, Darfur, and in neighboring South Sudan, pointing out that even hospitals have been bombed – a reference to recent attacks on an MSF clinic and the Catholic Mother of Mercy hospital in the Nuba Mountains.  

Speaking to the press after briefing the Security Council, Amos pointed to the “hundreds of thousands of innocent people in South Kordofan and Blue Nile who continue to be affected by war,” and noted that “no progress has been made in ensuring that they have access to even the most basic humanitarian assistance.”

“Under the leadership of the Humanitarian Coordinator, humanitarian workers in Sudan have continued to appeal to the parties to allow basic assistance to be provided to people who most need it.”

“Humanitarian premises, including hospitals, have been bombed. Attacks on medical facilities, whether deliberate or indiscriminate, are clearly unacceptable and in direct contravention of resolution 2046 and international humanitarian law.

Amos continued, “I noted my deep concern that intensified bombing and fighting during the planting season -May, June and July- is likely to have an impact on the harvest and families’ ability to feed themselves.”

She referred to the recently released forecast of the Famine Early Warning Systems Network that emergency levels of food insecurity are likely to persist among the displaced and host communities in SPLM-N controlled areas of South Kordofan between now and September.  

“I warned the Council that if aerial bombardment continues to disrupt agricultural activities, we can expect the impact to extend well beyond the harvest in September,” she said.

South Sudan famine warning

“Food security assessments in May and June this year indicate acute food and livelihoods crisis or an emergency situation in ten counties in Jonglei, Unity, and Upper Nile States in South Sudan. A warning of possible famine over the months of July and August was also given.”

“The conflict in South Sudan has effectively blocked off traditional areas of refuge across the border. It has also disrupted the cross-border movement of goods and services coming into South Kordofan and Blue Nile. And it has compounded the suffering of more than 200,000 Sudanese refugees in Upper Nile and Unity States.”

Amos also noted the failure to vaccinate children against polio in areas of South Kordofan and Blue Nile controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North.

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File photo: Valerie Amos (UN)