{"id":20077593,"date":"2024-03-16T21:11:39","date_gmt":"2024-03-16T20:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/?p=20077593"},"modified":"2024-03-21T07:05:44","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T06:05:44","slug":"human-rights-watch-un-chief-to-send-white-note-on-sudan-to-security-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/en\/all-news\/article\/human-rights-watch-un-chief-to-send-white-note-on-sudan-to-security-council","title":{"rendered":"Human Rights Watch: UN chief to send \u2018white paper\u2019 on Sudan to Security Council"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to alert the Security Council in the coming days that Sudan has entered a downward spiral of extreme conflict-induced hunger, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe council should act immediately, including by adopting targeted sanctions against individuals responsible for obstructing aid access in Darfur,\u201d the international human rights organisation stated<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Security Council will be formally put on notice that the conflict in Sudan risks spurring the world\u2019s largest hunger crisis<\/a>,\u201d said Akshaya Kumar, HRW crisis advocacy director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Council just broke months of silence by adopting a resolution<\/a> on Sudan last week, and should build on that momentum by imposing consequences on those responsible for preventing aid from getting to people who need it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alert will be sent to the Council as a so called \u201cwhite paper,\u201d drafted by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in accordance with its mandate under\u00a0Security Council resolution 2417<\/a>\u00a0to ring the alarm about \u201cthe risk of conflict-induced famine and wide-spread\u00a0food insecurity\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OCHA\u2019s alert follows multiple warnings by international and Sudanese organisations aid experts that people across the country are dying of hunger.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt also comes on the heels of Sudan\u2019s Armed Forces (SAF) brazenly <\/a>escalating its efforts to restrict the movement of humanitarian aid,\u201d HRW said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a 2023 presidential statement<\/a>, the Security Council reiterated its \u201cstrong intention to give its full attention\u201d to information provided by the secretary-general when it is alerted to situations involving conflict induced food insecurity. The council should honour that commitment and convene an open meeting to discuss OCHA\u2019s findings. That could pave the way for decisive action, including sanctions on individuals responsible for obstructing aid delivery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funding shortfalls<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four days ago, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that its lifesaving programmes in Chad will come to a halt<\/a> in a matter of weeks. This will force assistance to be suspended in April for 1.2 million Sudanese refugees and crisis-affected people in Chad, due to funding shortfalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, every second person in Sudan<\/a> (24.8 million people) will need humanitarian assistance, OCHA stated on January 25, while the funding for the Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan 2024 so far falls 95 per cent short<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amjad Farid, director of the Sudanese Fikra for Studies and Development organisation, who earlier warned of a famine in the country, told Radio Dabanga correspondent Ashraf Abdelaziz that the announced step of the UN secretary-general is \u201cextremely important for activating international response to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sudan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also hope that this step will lead to the Security Council to take decisions that will enable relief workers to do their work safely and as quickly as possible and remove all obstacles and stumbling blocks that hinder their work, by forcing both sides to the conflict to respect international laws.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famine<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mohamed Ahmed Omar, expert at the Sudan Platform for Agriculture and Agricultural Security, explained to Radio Dabanga that \u201cSudan annually needs three million tonnes of wheat, of which 30 per cent is produced and 70 per cent is imported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe El Gezira Agricultural Scheme produces about 60 per cent of the local production. Unfortunately, El Gezira is now under control<\/a> of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and the scheme needs all its 1,000 acres of farmland to provide enough food. But it is too dangerous<\/a> to move even from one village to another. The RSF will not let them harvest the crops from the winter season. Even if farmers could harvest, they would not be able to harvest and transport the crops because of the scarcity of fuel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFailure of the winter season means failure of the wheat harvest, thus increasing the import bill to more than a billion US Dollar, and the government does not have the ability to pay food bills or to finance the coming summer season, which means no production of sorghum and millet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll these reasons confirm that the country is heading towards famine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community kitchens<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The communications and Internet interruptions that started about 40 days ago has also led to a large food crisis for many people. The blackout severely affected<\/a> the work of the soup kitchens in Khartoum and several other cities after the war between the Sudanese army and the RSF erupted on April 15 last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany people had to survive without food<\/a>, and there are even reports about people who starved to death in their home,\u201d Abdelaziz wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Security Council<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adopting a presidential statement<\/a> in August 2023, the UN Security Council renewed its \u201creiterated its commitment to address conflict-induced food insecurity in situations of armed conflict\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the first time that Sudan is highlighted in this type of alert sent from the secretary-general to the Security Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cCouncil members must show leadership by holding open discussions to develop a plan that avoids the risk of mass famine in Sudan and impose targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for obstructing aid,\u201d Kumar, Human Rights Watch crisis advocacy director said. \u201cThe people of Sudan need more than words,\u201d he added. \u201cThey need food.\u201d<\/p>\n