Statement Attributable to ERC, WFP Executive Director and UNICEF Executive Director on Attacks on Civilians in Sudan
We strongly condemn the 20 February 2002
attack by a Government of Sudan helicopter gunship that killed 17 civilians
and wounded an unknown number of others at a food distribution site near
Bieh, Sudan. The Sudanese authorities had cleared this food distribution,
and vulnerable populations had gathered in the location to receive humanitarian
relief assistance provided by the United Nations.
This latest incident is part of an alarming
pattern of attacks by the Sudanese Government and associated militias against
civilians at or near food distribution points and looting of humanitarian
facilities. On 2 February, offices of the non-governmental organization
Medecins Sans Frontieres at Nimne were looted and its laboratory deliberately
damaged. On 9 February, Nimne was bombed by a Government of Sudan
aircraft, which killed five civilians including one MSF relief worker.
On 10 February, two people died and a dozen more were injured when
a military aircraft dropped bombs at a site in Akuem where the World Food
Programme had just finished distributing food to hundreds of people.
These acts are especially shocking when set against the backdrop of a population in dire need of assistance and the apology issued last week by the Government of Sudan for the Akuem incident. We call on the Government of Sudan to cease all attacks against civilians immediately and to ensure the safety of those trying to provide or receive life-sustaining humanitarian assistance.