Sudan
Continued critics against "Operation Lifeline Sudan"

afrol.com, 29 August - The top UN envoy for humanitarian issues in Sudan, Tom Eric Vraalsen, recently stated that the UN's Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) is "in very good shape." "This optimistic assessment is wrong, misleading, and strangely out of touch with recent events in Sudan, the world's largest ongoing humanitarian emergency," said Roger Winter, executive director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees. 

OLS, a UN-sponsored program that delivers humanitarian relief supplies to hundreds of thousands of people in Sudan, is in disarray and faces some of the most serious threats in its 11-year history. Consider these troubling recent developments:

- Most OLS aid flights into southern Sudan ground to a halt for two days last week because of a management error within OLS. This self-imposed flight suspension by OLS occurred less than 48 hours after Sudanese government bombings forced OLS to suspend aid flights for eight days. Whether a flight suspension is imposed by harsh Sudanese government policies or by OLS ineptitude, the effect on the health of needy Sudanese can be equally detrimental. 

- Sudanese government planes this week resumed bombing civilian and humanitarian targets with no plausible military significance. At least four bombing attacks have occurred in the past six days, including bombs on or near two relief agency compounds. 

- OLS reacted to this week's bombings with a shockingly weak statement that failed to condemn the Sudan government's attacks on relief operations. An OLS spokesperson merely stated that "we are concerned about any bombings, but at the moment we hope it will not affect our activities." This tepid response might give the Sudanese government the erroneous impression that OLS officials are now willing to accept bombings of humanitarian and civilian sites as long as UN aircraft are not endangered and relief workers happen to escape unharmed. 

- Recent infighting among OLS officials has impeded the ability of OLS security experts to monitor dangerous conditions on the ground in southern Sudan, according to aid workers. International relief workers risking their lives in southern Sudan depend on OLS security assessments that must be timely and accurate. 

- The Sudanese government continues to maneuver for more control over OLS and potentially tighter restrictions. Sudanese authorities have strengthened their ability to track OLS flights on radar, according to sources. The UN special envoy, Vraalsen, reportedly agreed in principle this week to allow Sudanese officials to monitor OLS base operations in Lokichokio, Kenya - the same aid effort that the Sudan government has bombed, harassed, and disrupted repeatedly in the past 11 years. (Sudanese government presence at the OLS base camp in Kenya would presumably need approval of the Kenyan government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement.) 

- Sudanese authorities continue to accuse OLS aid agencies of arms smuggling. This unfounded accusation lays the groundwork for eventual attacks or blockages on all OLS operations, at whatever time fits the strategic needs of the Sudanese government. 

-Sudanese officials continue to block OLS humanitarian aid to stricken areas of the Nuba Mountains in central Sudan, and extensive areas of Western Upper Nile and Eastern Equatoria Provinces in the south. Nor does OLS operate in conflict areas in northeastern Sudan. In short, OLS is not allowed to help hundreds of thousands of Sudanese people.

"Massive numbers of vulnerable Sudanese civilians are in terrible and deteriorating shape. OLS exists solely to meet their humanitarian needs," Winter said. "Contrary to what some UN officials claim, OLS cannot by definition be in "great shape" when the people it exists to serve are in such desperate shape." 

Sudan's 17-year civil war has left an estimated 2 million people dead and has uprooted some 4.3 million. Sudan has produced more uprooted people than any other country in the world. One of every nine uprooted people worldwide is Sudanese. 

Source: US Committee for Refugees

© afrol.com. Texts and graphics may be reproduced freely, under the condition that their origin is clearly referred to, see Conditions.    You can contact us at mail@afrol.com