On the day of signing for cessation of hostilities to allow a polio vaccination campaign in the Nuba Mountains, the government of Sudan has started it largest bombing campaign since the conflict started in June 2011. The UN agencies WHO and Unicef have been prevented from reaching the most affected areas. The Sudan government signed for cessation of hostilities with the rebelling SPLM-North in presence of the African Union High level implementation panel (AUHIP) invited on 4th November 2013.

According to Neroun Philip Ajo, the executive director of Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (SRRA), the conflict has reached unprecedented levels of violence. The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) continued aerial and ground attacks and launched its biggest offensive in southern Kordofan since the beginning of the conflict. The African Union brokered a deal in Addis Ababa to allow the UN Agencies implementing the polio vaccination campaign in the SPLM/A-N held areas where hundreds of thousands of people are displaced.

The Sudan government announce officially a Cessation of Hostilities declared by the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) to cover the period 1st to 14th November. Instead, it has launched its biggest ground and aerial offensive on southern Kordofan between 2 and 13 November.

According to the SSRA, the SAF conducted 36 air strikes using high altitude Antonov planes and jetfighters. The aerial strikes focused on the main towns of Umsirdiba and Abuhashim in Umdurein county on 2nd November, Tujur, Abri, Tunguli and Nyigir in Delami county on 5th, 10th and 11th November. Angolo and al Reika in Buram County on 6th and 7th November and Mayak, Wadaka, Mufu in Kurmuk County on 5th and 9th November.

Fifteen people were killed; mainly women and children, and 22 were injured. The Sudan Revolutionary Forces (SRF) claims having destroyed SAF convoys along the Dilling-Kadugli and Kurtala-Dellami roads. The SAF refused to comment on the number of casualties from the army side.

SAF confirms campaign

The Sudanese Minister of Defence, Abdelrahim Hussein, announced yesterday (Wednesday) as reported by Radio Tamazuj, that the Sudanese Armed Forces is planning for “large military operations to resolve the insurgency in the Darfur and the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states for once and for all. At the moment we are moving our troops towards those areas. The coming period will be crucial for all rebel movements. We are very well prepared to destroy all elements of insurgency in the country.”

The SSRA says over half a million IDPs and war affected communities in the two areas live in precarious humanitarian conditions and their situation will deteriorate further in the next few weeks. “In the absence of any external efforts to provide them with the minimum protection and humanitarian needs; such as food, medicine and shelter. There is a huge humanitarian crisis looming in the two areas that requires immediate attention and response by national and international humanitarian actors to alleviate the immense human suffering”, Neroun Philip Ajo told Radio Tamazuj.

“We reaffirm our commitment to implement the planned polio campaign. Furthermore, we call on the international community at large to exert more pressure on the Sudan government to lift restrictions on delivery of food and allow the UN agencies and independent international organisations immediate free access to the needy civilians in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States”.

UN frustrated over lack of access

On 11 November, John Ging, the director of humanitarian operations of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the UN Security Council that efforts to vaccinate 165,000 children against polio in areas of South Kordofan and Blue Nile states controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North (SPLM-N) had failed.

In a news conference following his briefing to the Security Council, Mr.Ging said that the  Sudanese Government and the SPLM-N had agreed on all technical arrangements for  the vaccination campaign to take place between 5 and 12 November. However, before  agreeing to allow the vaccination campaign to start, the SPLM-North insisted on holding a meeting with the Government of Sudan. This meeting did not materialize.

Mr. Ging urged council members to find a way to get aid workers into the two states."They have the capacity to act and to make a difference on the ground…We are ready. If there's a green light, we can be there in a day." Mr. Ging subsequently urged the Security Council to use its influence to get the children vaccinated.

Ging expressed great frustration at the "filibustering" and finger-pointing by both sides, insisting that such actions are having a serious impact on efforts to eradicate polio. In reference to the UN’s failure to get humanitarian aid to 800,000 vulnerable people in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, Ging said “the international community failed the people of South Kordofan and Blue Nile."

Photo: Bomb crater near Um Sirdiba