OCHA: Sudan war projected to escalate

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Tuesday said that 18 months into the Sudanese conflict, people there continue to endure unimaginable suffering amid unrelenting brutal violence.

While briefing the UN Security Council on Sudan, Ramesh Rajasingham, Director, Coordination Division, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, on behalf of Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said there are no signs of respite.

“Indeed, troubling projections suggest the conflict is poised to escalate yet further. We continue to receive reports of civilian casualties caused by heavy fighting in populated areas. We also continue to receive reports of shocking atrocities – most recently of mass killings and horrific sexual violence in Aj Jazirah State. This has become a sickening hallmark of this conflict,” he said. “Women and girls continue to be at the center of the horrendous suffering, as displacement and hunger put them at increased risk of gender-based violence and sexual violence, exploitation and abuse.”

“Civilians continue to flee for their lives both within Sudan and across its borders, in what is now the world’s largest displacement crisis with more than 11 million people have been displaced since April of last year – nearly 3 million of whom have sought refuge in neighboring countries,”  Rajasingham added.

He told the Council that the conflict has not only driven a major displacement crisis, it has also unleashed a severe hunger crisis affecting millions of people across Sudan.

“In the period since the last report, we have seen further displacement, continuing constraints on humanitarian access, and an intensification of conflict in several areas. This includes Aj Jazirah, Khartoum, Sennar, and North Darfur, states which were already experiencing some of the highest levels of acute food insecurity in the country,” he reported. “In North Darfur, fighting in and around El Fasher continues to intensify and block the movement of aid supplies into the area. This is an area that includes the Zamzam displacement camp, where, as the Members of the Council are aware, famine conditions were confirmed in July.”

“I just cannot put strongly enough how serious this situation is, hostilities and violence have claimed the lives of thousands of people in Sudan, and hunger, malnutrition, and diseases threaten to claim the lives of hundreds of thousands of people more,” the official added.

Rajasingham urged the international community to take what is happening in Sudan seriously and take urgent action to address it.

“This must include immediately ensuring improved humanitarian access. Humanitarian organizations remain unable to reach the vast majority of people in conflict hotspots across Sudan at anything approaching adequate scale,” he revealed. “Some areas are completely cut off. Others can only be reached after navigating complicated procedures that delay and impede deliveries. The opening of the Adre crossing from Chad in August has provided an important lifeline for people in the areas it serves.”

According to the director, it is absolutely imperative that this crossing remains open for humanitarian supplies and personnel for as long as is necessary.

“Our ability to access key areas of need across conflict lines from Port Sudan remains severely limited. We urgently need the parties to ensure the safe, rapid, unimpeded movement of both relief supplies and humanitarian personnel via all available routes, with the maximum possible flexibility,” he stated. “We need the parties to facilitate our efforts to re-establish inter-agency hubs in key areas, including Zalingei in Central Darfur and Kadugli in South Kordofan. This is critical for scaling up the distribution of assistance and re-establishing links with local partners and communities on the front line of the response.”

Rajasingham called for agreements on humanitarian pauses to facilitate the provision of assistance into, and the voluntary movement of civilians out of, areas of active hostilities.

“We are deeply concerned by the alarming trajectory of this conflict. While it has already unleashed horrendous suffering, the conditions are there for it to claim exponentially more lives,” he stated. “We call on the Security Council – and all Member States with influence – to take immediate unfettered action to address this situation.”

“And finally, as always, we call for urgent steps to bring the fighting to an end and secure desperately needed peace in Sudan,” Rajasingham concluded.