Violence has already forced more than 80,000 people from restive border areas to flee into neighbouring South Sudan
NAIROBI (AlertNet) – Africa should take the lead in negotiating humanitarian access to avert famine in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions, the International Crisis Group think tank said, as the continent’s leaders held a heads of state summit in Ethiopia.
Fighting broke out between government forces and rebels in South Kordofan in June last year, shortly before South Sudan declared independence under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war. The conflict spread to Blue Nile in September.
The United States has pressed Khartoum to allow more aid in the two border states, citing expert reports that said more than a quarter of a million people could be on the brink of famine there by March.
Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations this month dismissed concerns of a looming crisis in the two states, saying the situation there was "normal".
“A humanitarian catastrophe is in the making,” said Zach Vertin, ICG’s Horn of Africa analyst, in the East African newspaper. “AU (African Union) leaders with contacts in Khartoum should privately advise the NCP (Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party) that negotiated access is both necessary and in its interest.”
The violence has already forced about 417,000 people to flee their homes, more than 80,000 of them to neighbouring South Sudan, the United Nations estimates.
The Sudanese government, citing security risks, has stopped aid workers from visiting areas where there has been fighting. Only national relief organisations, such as the Sudanese Red Crescent, are allowed to distribute aid.
The United States is considering delivering cross-border relief in the absence of consent from Khartoum.
“Any form of non-consensual access to its territory could prompt a hostile response from Khartoum, further deterioration of US-Sudan relations, and consternation from African states already made wary by international intervention in Libya,” Vertin warned.
The AU should use this week’s summit to extend a detailed proposal to partner with the government and international relief teams in providing critical access, he suggested.
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