Humanitarian aid has not been allowed into the troubled region for 13 months – call for the International Criminal Court to launch investigation

The International Criminal Court must be allowed to initiate proceedings against those responsible for blocking famine relief in the Sudan. The Society for Threatened Peoples appealed to the World Security Council on Tuesday. According to reports from Ulrich Delius, the Society for Threatened Peoples’ expert on Africa: “For 13 months now, the Sudanese authorities have refused to allow humanitarian aid to enter those areas of the South Kordofan and the Blue Nile provinces that are controlled by rebels. The systematic blockage of humanitarian aid is a crime against humanity, which has to be punished. Those exercising power in the Sudan are playing with the lives of hundreds of thousands of needy people.”

The ultimatum for the Sudanese and South Sudanese governments, which the Security Council passed unanimously on 2 May 2012, expires on 2 August 2012. In its Resolution 2046, the UN Council called for an immediate end to hostilities between the two states, the resumption of negotiations to clarify divisive issues and unrestricted access for aid workers so they can assist the impoverished people in the war-torn provinces of South Kordofan and the Blue Nile that have been at the heart of the conflict since June 2011. Should these demands fail to be fulfilled by 2 August, the World Security Council can impose travel and financial restrictions against the political leaders of both states and decide to deploy UN peace-keeping forces.

Indirect negotiations conducted last Saturday between the Sudan and the SPLM North freedom fighters backed by South Sudan failed to achieve free access for aid workers. In Delius’ words, “The haggling between the conflicting parties over the provision of humanitarian aid is inhuman and contemptuous”. In a report published at the end of last week, the government claimed the situation in the troubled region had become more stable and “normal”. In an interview with the pro-government newspaper “Sudan Vision”, the Chairman of the Human Rights Committee in the Sudanese parliament, Al Fadil Al Haj Suleiman, even declared that refusing access to international aid-workers had actually contributed towards stabilising the humanitarian situation, since the relief organisations only used aid as a pretext to pursue their own goals. “That is pure cynicism”, said Delius. There are more than 2,000 people fleeing the two regions at the heart of the conflict. Over 212,000 refugees have already sought refuge in the neighbouring countries of South Sudan and Ethiopia. Farmers anticipate a harvest shortfall of up to 70 per cent owing to the war. Valerie Amos, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, already issued a warning about a further deterioration of the catastrophic situation on 29 June 2012.