Sudan sinks into war - access of humanitarian aid workers is blocked

The civil war in Sudan is escalating - with disastrous consequences for the civilian population, according to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP). On Wednesday, the human rights group appealed to the UN Security Council to try and enable humanitarian aid workers to get through to the needy. Currently, relief efforts are obstructed or blocked completely. "It is a scandal, that the Security Council has remained largely passive since the outbreak of the civil war in the provinces of Kordofan and Blue Nile in June 2011," criticized the STP's Africa expert, Ulrich Delius. "If no initiatives for peace are planned, then it must at least be assured, that the conflict parties respect international humanitarian laws." Today, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will inform the Security Council about the situation in Sudan.

Since the Security Council's last resolution on Sudan - dated July 29, 2011 - the situation has grown much worse. According to the United Nations, there are now around 417,000 people on the run in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile. Approximately 50,000 civil war refugees have sought refuge in neighboring southern Sudan - 30,000 of them from the Blue Nile province and 20,000 from South Kordofan. Another 36,000 people fled to Ethiopia. Until the end of the year, the number of civil war refugees begging for shelter in the neighboring countries is expected to rise to over 100,000. Every day, around 650 new refugees from the Blue Nile arrive in the province of Upper Nile in southern Sudan alone. "The exodus will continue to increase, because - due to the war - the farmers cannot grow food and it is becoming more and more difficult to manage supplies for the civilian population," fears Delius.

The Sudanese government does not allow independent humanitarian aid workers to access the civil war areas, officially for security reasons. "But this is not the true reason, because humanitarian aid workers are kidnapped or become victims of other attacks even in 'pacified' regions of the country," said Delius. "The Sudanese authorities are trying to fight their war without the hassle of eye-witnesses, so they are violating fundamental rules of international humanitarian law. To deny support for needy civilians is a crime against humanity and can be punished by the International Criminal Court."