In a joint press release by the World Food Programme (WFP), Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA), and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and for the first time in 10 years, humanitarian UN agencies reach Sudan in its conflict areas controlled by Abdelaziz al-Hilu’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLM-N) in the Blue Nile state and South Kordofan.
AlTaghyeer: UN
The UN has announced its humanitarian agencies have been able to reach five isolated areas within Sudan amidst the renewed, ongoing peace talks currently taking place in Juba between the Sudanese government and al-Hilu’s SPLM-N.
The isolated areas –comprising mostly of conflict-affected communities–had been cut-off from aid for a decade.
The UN mission that had successfully reached those areas discovered the people over there required improved food security, education, health, water and sanitation services.
The onset of the conflict between the Sudanese government and the SPLM-N back in 2011 made the five areas virtually impenetrable; making the UN agencies’ reach to conflict areas in Sudan a difficult task.
“This response marks a significant breakthrough in humanitarian access and response to conflict-affected communities previously unreached by UN humanitarian assistance”, said Khardiata Lo N’diaye, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General and Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan.
Having spent the past ten years without access to life-saving assistance, the UN considered the recent humanitarian access provided a critical opportunity in improving and rebuilding livelihoods.
“Communities in these areas have been struggling and surviving on little or nothing for a decade,” said Eddie Rowe, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director in Sudan.
“With improved food security and other opportunities, families will be able to reintegrate with the rest of Sudan and start to recover and rebuild,” he added.
Children a Priority
The aid came in the form of 100 metric tons of nutritious biscuits delivered by the WFP to 25,000 school children in 83 schools on the five missions.
“Whilst these missions mark a major development, we need to ensure that humanitarian access to children and communities in need is always granted,” remarked Abdullah Fadil, UNICEF Representative in Sudan.
Having reached Sudan in its conflict areas, the UN agencies have estimated that about 800,000 people in those areas are in desperate need for relief following many years of isolation.
The agencies reached secluded-communities in Sudan in areas such as Zozak and Amora in Blue Nile State, and Kau/Nyaro, Rashad/New Tegali, and Western Jebels in South Kordofan State.
