International organizations working in Sudan urged the international community to act on the UN Secretary-General’s call for decisive action to protect civilians and ensure safe and unfettered aid delivery, as atrocities escalate across the country and displacement hits 11 million.
A significant escalation of hostilities in eastern Aj Jazirah State over the past week has been marked by some of the most extreme violence in the last 18 months. A horrific campaign of destruction and killings of civilians is currently ongoing, forcing at least 119,000 people from multiple locations in Aj Jazirah to flee to nearby states. Further West in Darfur, civilians in El Fasher remain trapped and have been almost entirely cut off from assistance for the past eight months as siege and bombings of the city continue. Hostilities along the border have forced 25,000 people to flee to Chad in just one week alone. In the capital Khartoum, and in Kordofan, reports of civilians caught up in fighting also continue.
“We left with only the clothes on our backs. Entire villages emptied, families scattered, and we lost our relatives. Every place we reached was already preparing to flee. Some of us walked for days, others rode on tractors, just trying to escape,” a survivor of the Aj Jazirah attacks described.
As the conflict escalates, and humanitarian needs continue to grow, access to aid remains extremely restricted for communities, especially for those trapped by fighting. The opening of the critical Adre cross-border humanitarian access point for use by the U.N. to reach communities in Darfur from Chad will expire in mid-November. INGOs called on all parties to ensure this authorization is extended indefinitely, and that agreement is reached on permanent access modalities to ensure unfettered aid delivery through the most direct routes possible to all people in need across the country.
While the UN Security Council has condemned the horrors on the ground, it has yet to take decisive action to protect civilians. INGOs called on Member States for a diplomatic surge at the highest levels - including the personal involvement of Heads of State - to put pressure on the parties to the conflict and their backers to comply with international humanitarian law. The organisations also urged for immediate civilian protection measures and humanitarian access, not contingent on political negotiations or a ceasefire, to be instituted now to save lives and mitigate ongoing and future civilian harm.
The Sudan INGO Forum is the coordination and representation body for the international nongovernmental organization (INGO) community in Sudan. The Forum is currently comprised of 70 members and observer members providing humanitarian and development assistance and peacebuilding interventions across all 18 states of Sudan.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Rescue Committee (IRC) .
