Potential tragedy looms in Southern Sudan with government suspension of relief flights
Press Release
IHA/644
NEW YORK, 6 February -- The Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announced today that as of 4 February,
the Government of the Sudan had denied humanitarian agencies access to
recently displaced populations by suspending all flights into the Bahr
el Ghazal region of southern Sudan. An estimated 100,000 displaced -- mainly
women and children -- were reported to be fleeing the civil conflict that
flared up in and around the towns of Wau, Aweil and Gogrial over the past
week. The displaced people were said to be gathering in a number of locations
in Bahr el Ghazal, but were reported to be weak, hungry and in urgent need
of assistance in the form of food, medicines and shelter materials.
These flight suspensions are putting
the lives of vulnerable civilians at great risk. The people displaced have
been walking for several days without food and with little water and are
exhausted. The Operation Lifeline Sudan is collecting emergency supplies
and has positioned them in Lokichokio, ready to be flown to the areas where
the displaced have been gathering. However, Operation Lifeline Sudan cannot
reach the people without flight clearances from the Government.
An Operation Lifeline Sudan emergency
response team has already been established in Lokichokio, with representatives
from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme,
Save the Children-United Kingdom, Medecins Sans Frontieres-Belgium, World
Vision International, MEDAIR, Oxfam-United Kingdom and the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Food, medicines and shelter materials
were flown to the area prior to the flight suspensions, but according to
Operation Lifeline Sudan assessment teams on the ground, much more is needed
to avert a potential humanitarian tragedy.
The flights ban covers almost half of
the population of southern Sudan and has a serious impact, not only on
the war-affected population, but also on hundreds of thousands of women
and children living in Bahr el Ghazal, one of the most deprived areas in
the South, which was already experiencing a severe food deficit before
the current crisis. With little or no medicines on the ground, wounded
civilians caught in the conflict have no chance of receiving medical care.
Cases of diarrhoeal diseases are already reported among children on the
move. Operation Lifeline Sudan is in close contact with government authorities
in order to resolve this issue.