UN relief chief: We have a plan for where we would deploy [in Sudan]

Opening remarks by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths at a press briefing
 

Port Sudan: Thank you for this opportunity. The Secretary-General asked me towards the end of last week to travel to Sudan and to the region, in order to be sure that the humanitarian community, the UN humanitarian agencies and NGOs are enabled to do the work that we know they want to do - to respond to the needs of the people in Sudan.
 
And I am, as you pointed out, in Port Sudan today and already this morning, I have had very specific, concrete discussions, first of all, with our Special Representative of the Secretary-General Volker Perthes and then with the heads of the key humanitarian agencies who are in Port Sudan and who, incidentally, never left Sudan. They are here, and they are doing their job, and I want to comment on that in a minute.
 
The agenda is very straightforward. It is a practical one, but it is also one that depends on effective advocacy. It is clear to me from the discussions here, and the discussions I had on the way here, in Nairobi, that the desire, willingness and indeed impatience of humanitarian agencies to deliver remains as strong as ever, and they have reminded me that today, they have been doing so in very difficult circumstances.
 
One fascinating example was from UNICEF, who talked about a major vaccine installation. I think it was a $14 million value vaccine installation in Khartoum, which has been consistently sustained, protected and remains active.
 
So that is important, but we all know we can and should do more. And how do we do that? We do this with two things. Number one, we have clarity among us about a plan for deploying staff forward, towards areas of need. Darfur of course, is the area of greatest need, but Khartoum, very much so the beating heart of this country, and other parts of south and north Sudan.
 
We have a plan for where we would deploy. We have a plan for how we get supplies to these places. Medical first, obviously in Khartoum, safe water there as well. Supplies of a range of things to Darfur. And we know how we can do this and we will start doing it.
 
But the second aspect, I have already started working on here today, is to be sure that we have the commitments publicly and clearly given by the two militaries, to protect humanitarian assistance, to deliver on the obligations to allow supplies for people to move, and that we should do that, and humanitarians universally do this, even when there is no formal natural ceasefire. We will still require agreements and arrangements to allow for movements of staff and supplies.
 
We will need to have agreements at the highest level and very publicly, and we will need to deliver those commitments into local arrangements that can be depended on. So that is the agenda, and I am confident that the humanitarian community is here to do that famous thing: staying and delivering.

Question: My question is, you said yesterday 100,000 people have fled Sudan. With their announcement of a seven-day ceasefire, are you seeing any reduction of that or is it just continually increasing? Thank you.

Under-Secretary-General: I think it was Filippo Grandi who made that announcement, as you can imagine, as High Commissioner for Refugees. And I think he would be the person to go to for the answer to your question. But I would say this: I don't think we have seen the end of people seeking safety in Sudan and in its neighbouring countries. One of the things that I know, UNHCR, in the lead in regional responses and responses to needs of people going into neighbouring countries, is very, very active. Indeed. Filippo and I participated in a call with [Kenyan] President [William] Ruto the other day where this became a very important element. So we need to provide aid inside Sudan to encourage people not to leave, not to need to leave, and we need to be ready in those neighbouring places to receive them with all the rights, entitlements that come with those refugee conventions.

Question: There has been quite a bit of criticism of the United Nations. We are well aware of the people that you have lost. We are well aware of how violent it was. But there were some that were criticizing the UN saying that in recent days, in the last couple of weeks, the UN really was not doing enough and had abandoned the people of Sudan. Do you think mistakes were made?

Under-Secretary-General: Mistakes are always made. You know, you and I and the people in this meeting, have lived through a series of crises in this last year and a half. I would not go to any one of those crises and say mistakes were not made, because in the heat of things, and in particular with the viral nature of this conflict that we see in Sudan, keeping up with the movements and opportunities and possibilities, is extremely difficult and that without even mentioning the terrible stresses that came upon the 100,000 people in Sudan, but also many of our colleagues, who needed to move to safety. However, I do think that we have not probably been good enough to tell you the story of what humanitarians have continued to do. But also perhaps more important than claiming that we are not doing things is what we can do and what we need to happen from others, if we are to do those things.

Yes, we can and should get assistance to different parts of Darfur, to Khartoum. Yes, we can and should and the agency representatives I met here this morning are unanimous about that.

But to do that, we need access, we need airlift, we need supplies that do not get looted. The World Food Programme today informed me six trucks of theirs which were going to Darfur were looted, despite assurances of safety and security.

So, it is a volatile environment. So, we need those commitments. That is one of my obligations, I think, in this visit to Sudan in the region. And then, we need to absolutely embed those commitments into clear local arrangements. I think you will find if we get good funding, that we will be able to do exactly what people of Sudan require us to do and are entitled to see us do.

Question: I was wondering before the fighting erupted, the UN estimated that more than a third of Sudan's population would need humanitarian assistance this year. I am wondering if you could say, how much worse do you expect the conflict to make things and if you have any fresh planning figures when it comes to the aid that will be needed. And, also given the dire underfunding that the UN has been warning about. How likely is it that you will be able to actually address those increasing needs? Thank you.

Under-Secretary-General: It happens always in these particular crises that there is an urgent need, as you say, for assessments of need, and that these assessments should be published and publicized and lead to fundraising. And that is true, and that is important. And those assessments have indeed been ongoing since the fighting started. But in different parts of Sudan, the assessments, I mean, the situation is very different. And we do not have an overall competent picture of the additions right now. I think it is clearer in the case of the regional response. I know that UNHCR is already in the final stages of an appeal for response in the region.

But let me say that we have a Humanitarian Response Plan and an appeal for $1.7 billion for Sudan before this latest crisis began, and that has been funded now to about the tune of $200 million. So, what we need is people to put money into those funds, they exist. There is a Sudan Humanitarian Fund run by my office for example which has been tested and true. There is no need to wait for an appeal to put money where it needs to be. And the operations that the agencies are indeed involved in, as of the days of the beginning of this crisis, are different in certain respects but they are involving the same partners, they are involving the same agreements with the Government to provide for their entry and so forth. So, you can use the same structure and architecture to address the new needs.

One thing, however, if I may add, is this, and it is part of the advocacy that we need to bring to bear: the bureaucratic impediments to delivering assistance into Sudan in a situation as rapidly changing as this, I think need to be updated. Getting visas, getting movement certificates, is not proving easy. I myself had some difficulty getting visas but others, particularly international NGOs, said to me today, they really need help on this. And we need to get supplies coming in quickly. So that we can get those supplies on the road to the people that need it.

Question: I was just wondering if you could provide us with an update on what has arrived in Sudan and what you know has arrived and what you might be expecting to arrive in terms of supplies anytime soon. We know certain supplies from WHO have arrived. You mentioned the looting from WFP. Any other data you might have on that? Thank you.

Under-Secretary-General: Yeah, I do not have a competent picture but I would pick on those examples. I was talking to the World Health Organization people here this morning who have been able to get permission to bring an airlift in from their Dubai warehousing operation of medical supplies into Port Sudan where I am now. We are going to need to get the permission to move those to Khartoum for example. I think they will sort it through this vessel that they had in Port Sudan.

Medical supplies, you know, are by any standards the front end of a humanitarian response, particularly in Khartoum, where, as we know, two thirds of health institutions have been closed for various reasons to do with the conflict. Medical supplies, very important.

The second thing, which I think is, I was also told today by one of the leaders of Sudan's civil society organizations – the importance of water, particularly in Khartoum, safe water supplies for people in Khartoum is of vital, obviously, importance, not least, to remain where they are where it is easier for us to serve them. So, water supply support is very important. UNICEF made a very strong case for vaccines. I mentioned earlier the vaccine facility in Khartoum, which had been protected. UNICEF told me that there are vaccines in Darfur, which have been looted.

As you know, looting of humanitarian stocks across the country has been a very sad phenomenon of these past weeks. And so we need to resupply those stocks which have been done, but we need to do it into an environment where there are commitments that looting will not happen again. FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] and World Food Programme talked to me today about the importance of getting food and seeds into places which are going to be hard to reach because of the rainy season that is coming in June, and because of the planting season, which has also coming from May to July. So pre-stocking which is a phenomenon, which is common to all years in Sudan is going to require urgent action as well. And then in Darfur, because of the ranging nature of the conflict and the violence there, it is very difficult to make assessments. It is a very difficult operating environment. And it is of the highest importance. We believe that we should also be asking for support from the Chadian authorities to allow us to bring supplies in with Sudanese approval across the border into western Darfur, for example.

Question: I will do a follow up on the previous question because that was what I was wondering: UN agencies and other organizations like the ICRC announced the arrival of aid to Port Sudan where you are, Mr. Griffiths. But what is not clear is that are these supplies able to be moved to the places where they are needed. Or if the supplies are attending the conditions to be fulfilled for this. You can please clarify.

Under-Secretary-General: Sure, but again, I think that individual agencies are the best people to talk to, to clarify their specifics. It is like for example the International Committee of the Red Cross, whom I met yesterday, have an operational hub in Wad Madani south of Khartoum, their operations from there as you know, into the city and of course, their supplies, I am sure, are going to that operating base, then to partners, particularly the Red Crescent, for example, delivering to health institutions across the city. But as I mentioned in the context of trucks of World Food Programme which were looted today, we need to be very, very clear about commitments made to ensure the safety of movements of suppliers from Port Sudan – or indeed from Chad coming into Darfur – westwards to the places of need, and those commitments are of high priority for me. We have already started the conversations with the parties to identify what we need from them to make those movements happen. If you do not then, your question is right, we cannot move the supplies from Port Sudan then the purpose of bringing aid in will be reduced. Not to mention, however, there are very serious and growing needs, for example of internally displaced here in Port Sudan. Port Sudan is a place changing by the day.

Question: To follow up on what you just said about the type of dialogue you have already had, so, what kind of channels and dialogue? And do you have so far what is planned for the next two days in that regard? And when you mentioned the need to secure both commitments from the top level and local arrangements: do you have the feeling that there are clear chain of commands between these two levels?

Under-Secretary-General: We have started the road, the journey, the effort to secure those commitments at the very highest level of the two militaries. And what I am saying to them, in fact through you to others, is that where we would be not happy we would be wanting to meet those two leaders as soon as possible, separately, face to face, to explain to them our requirements built on the discussions with humanitarian operational agencies, UN and non-UN, so that it is clear to them and to us what commitments we can realistically get and what they can realistically expect from us in return in terms of support for the people of Sudan. So, we started that.

Now, of course, you know, security dominates all conversations of these kinds, whether it is on the political track or the very distinct humanitarian track. We are going to try and work it out to make sure it happens as quickly as possible. Because it seems to me getting those commitments is a condition precedent for large scale humanitarian action. And I say large scale because humanitarian action is continuing day by day and it has been a mistake to suggest that it stopped. We have heard a lot about supplies coming in, but we need to back it up, with top level agreements on specific requests.

Question: Martin, is this looting mainly happening in areas controlled by the army or by militia? So, is it both?

Under-Secretary-General: I am not in possession of those facts. What I know is what you know, from all the reports of what is going on in Sudan. And what is not unusual in any such situation, is that you have some of the military elements very disciplined and some less so.

The worry, as conveyed to me by that civil society leader that I spoke to this morning, is when commitments are made by people up the chain of command, I guess, and then it does not work out at the operational level of movement of supplies. That is the kind of discussion which I think is really important to have with the leaders of both the militaries so that we can be clear what we need to be able to operate fairly.

It is not as if we are asking for the moon – we are asking for the movement of humanitarian supplies and people; we do this in every other country, even without ceasefires, it is a tradition of the humanitarian enterprise to go where others do not. And President Ruto made an interesting point the other day, when he said, of course, we must go for ceasefire, it is essential, but by the way, humanitarian needs continue even when ceasefires are not operating and I think the way he puts it was very telling.

Question: I have only one question. You said you were in contact with the parties to the conflict. Did you ask them to leave the laboratory transformed into a military base in Khartoum containing samples of pathogens because WHO was scared about that and because you are talking with them, maybe you spoke about this matter, too.

Under-Secretary-General: I have not, no. At the moment, what we are doing is we are asking them to agree a place and time for our discussions on the range of humanitarian issues of which I am sure that will be one.