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.