He General secretary of the United Nations, António Guterres, announced this Sunday that, given the rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Sudan, will immediately dispatch the head of UN Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, to that country and the region.
In a statement, Guterres noted that the scale and speed of what is happening is unprecedented in sudan.
“We are extremely concerned about the immediate and long-term impact on the population in Sudan and the region in general,” he said in a statement from his spokesman.
Likewise, it once again urged the parties to the conflict to protect the population and civilian infrastructure, to allow safe passage of fleeing civilians of hostilities, to respect humanitarian workers and assets, and to facilitate relief operations.
He also asked them to respect the personnel and the medical transport, as well as the medical facilities.
Call to extend the ceasefire
Shortly before this announcement and in view of the reports of airstrikes in Khartoum, the Trilateral Mechanism, made up of the African Union, the East African bloc IGAD and the UN, had called on Generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, known as “Hemedti”, to extend 72 more hours the ceasefire.
In addition to agreeing to the three-day truce, the Mechanism asked the actors facing ensure its full implementation.
“Since he Sudanese people urgently need a humanitarian pausethe Trilateral Mechanism urges the parties to the conflict to respect the ceasefire, protect civilians and refrain from attacking areas populated by civilians, schools and health care facilities,” he stressed.
“This ceasefire too would pave the way for talks between the two parties towards establishing a permanent cessation of hostilities,” he added.
turbulent transition
Sudan has experienced a turbulent transition to civilian rule following the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. A power-sharing government that brought together military and civilian leaders was also ousted in a coup in October 2021.
As of May 2022, the Trilateral Mechanism has facilitated talks and last December he managed to sign an agreement to restore civil government.
However, hopes were dashed two weeks agowhen fighting broke out between the regular Sudanese army, led by General al-Burhan, and the paramilitary forces of General Dagalo, known as the Rapid Support Forces.
Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have fled, 20,000 of them to neighboring Chad.
Suspension of operations and commitment of the UN
Violence and insecurity have also forced UN agencies to suspend their aid operations in a country where almost 16 million people, or a third of the population, depended on humanitarian assistance even before this crisis.
The UN relocated and evacuated staff from Khartoum and other locations in Sudan this week, but will continue to work remotelyeither from within the country or from other nations.
Together with its partners, the United Nations system is establishing a team in the city of Port Sudanon the Red Sea coast, which will oversee relief operations and negotiate humanitarian access with the de facto authorities.
Aid workers now in Port Sudan stand ready to rush back to Khartoum as soon as conditions allow. Meanwhile, the The UN has endorsed its commitment to the people of Sudan.
For her part, the UN Integrated Mission for Transition Assistance in Sudan (UNITAMS) reported that the governor of the Red Sea state gave a report on the humanitarian and security situation in that town to the head of that Mission, Volker Perthes.
In that exchange, Perthes reiterated that the UN will not leave the country and that he will work from Port Sudan until the security situation in Khartoum the return of the workers.
