2023-06-23 19:23:31
The fighting escalated on Friday in Sudan where humanitarians are calling on the belligerents to let humanitarian convoys pass to help the millions of civilians caught under fire.
Ten weeks of war between the army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (FSR) of General Mohamed Hamdand Daglo have already caused more than 2,000 deaths and more than 2.5 million displaced and refugees.
Situation in Sudan: the testimony of journalist Mohamed El Hassan OSMAN
“Bureaucratic Paperwork”
“On Wednesday, we postponed the negotiations because they are not progressing as we wish”explained Molly Phee, Under Secretary of State for Africa. “These ceasefires have not been respected enough, even if they have allowed the transfer of vital humanitarian assistance”she added in front of parliamentarians.
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But the NGOs say they are still waiting to be able to work: “Millions of people cannot be helped because of the blatant restrictions on the entry of humanitarian workers and aid”reports William Carter, of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Sudan, denouncing a “bureaucratic red tape”.
Requests to the authorities are “delayed, refused, canceled or not respected”laments Doctors Without Borders (MSF). “Humanitarians have been violently beaten or threatened” while “cargoes have been confiscated”adds the NGO.
In Geneva on Monday, the international community pledged $1.5 billion in aid to Sudan – not even half of estimated needs. In the country, one of the poorest in the world, 25 million people need this aid to survive while two thirds of the hospitals are now out of service and the rest are on the verge of closure as the reserves are lacking.
Raped women, stolen houses
Above all, the inhabitants regularly denounce the paramilitaries who settle in houses. On Friday, dozens of demonstrators gathered to denounce them in Khartoum and Kosti, in the south of the country, under the slogan “one people, one army”.
The government body fighting violence against women reported at least 36 sexual assaults in the capital, with survivors mostly accusing the FSR. “The registered cases do not represent more than 2% of the actual figures”, he assures. And in Darfur (west), where “The situation is getting worse day by day”there is no figure for lack of communication with the rest of the country.
Moved to Port-Sudan, students took their end-of-year exam
In El-Geneina alone, capital of West Darfur, 1,100 people were killed, according to the UN. Houses have been burned, corpses lie in the middle of dirt streets flanked by shops with curtains ripped open by looters. And more than 170,000 people have fled to Chad and the Central African Republic.
“Sudan is dying”, writes researcher Alex de Waal. And if Jeddah, a city in Saudi Arabia that hosts the negotiations under the aegis of the United States and Saudi Arabia, “served as an exam room before entering the operating room, so the doctors did not make a diagnosis before launching”, he says. Because the American sanctions on companies of the army and the FSR will not help “until the mediators have a clear strategy”.
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