Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 5th Jan. UN relief chief Martin Griffiths said on Thursday that the international community must take “decisive and immediate action” to bring nearly nine months of brutal civil war in Sudan to an end and boost humanitarian relief.
Mr. Griffiths UN Emergency Relief Coordinator said in a statement that as the conflict continues to spread “human suffering is deepening, humanitarian access is shrinking and hope is dwindling.”
He said a grim turning point between government troops and their rival RSF militia has been reached with the recent fighting in Aj Jazirah state, the country’s breadbasket. More than 500,000 Sudanese civilians have fled from the state capital region, “long a place of refuge for those uprooted from clashes elsewhere.”
He warned that continuing mass displacement is also threatening to fuel the rapid spread of cholera there.
Griffiths said the same accounts of widespread rights violations and “horrific abuses” as in the capital Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan, earlier in the conflict, were afflicting Wad Medani.
He warned that the fighting there and looting of agency warehouses and supplies across what is a humanitarian hub “is a body blow to our efforts to deliver food, water, healthcare and other critical aid.”
OCHA head said 25 million Sudanese would need help through this year but intensifying fighting may cut many off from lifesaving aid.
He warned “Deliveries across conflict lines have ground to a halt”, which the violence is also threatening regional stability.
“The war has unleashed the world’s largest displacement crisis, uprooting the lives of seven million people.” It’s essential now to protect civilians, facilitate humanitarian access and end the fighting, he concluded.
