(Port Sudan) Sudanese authorities loyal to the army are blocking humanitarian aid intended for Darfur, an act denounced by humanitarian organizations and the United States which are alarmed by the catastrophic situation for a population on the verge of famine .
“Children and babies are already dying of hunger and malnutrition, there will be an immense humanitarian impact […] and potentially large-scale mortality rates,” said Sunday a member of an international NGO deployed in this region of western Sudan, who requested anonymity so as not to endanger his mission.
The UN and the United States have denounced the blocking of this vital aid for Darfur, where a quarter of the 48 million Sudanese are victims of a humanitarian catastrophe.
War broke out on April 15 between the head of the army, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, and his former deputy, General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (FSR). It left thousands dead and displaced nearly eight million people, according to the UN.
The FSR are made up of the former Arab Janjaweed militiamen, who a decade ago led a scorched earth policy in Darfur for former president Omar al-Bashir.
The RSF control four of the five capitals of Darfur, cut off from the rest of the country for months. The majority of humanitarian aid arrives in Port Sudan on the Red Sea, where the government loyal to the army is based.
UN humanitarian aid passes to Darfur via the Chadian border where “the authorities are limiting operations,” Eddie Rowe, the representative of the World Food Program (WFP) in Sudan, said recently.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller expressed Washington’s “great concern” Friday after the “recent decision [de l’armée] to prohibit the passage of humanitarian aid through the Chadian border and information according to which [l’armée] prevents aid from reaching populations in areas controlled by the RSF.”
The United States also denounced “the looting of homes, markets and humanitarian aid warehouses” by the paramilitaries.
Sudan’s Foreign Ministry rejected Washington’s “false accusations”, saying the Sudanese-Chadian border was “the main entry point for weapons and equipment” used to commit “atrocities” against the Sudanese.
In January, a UN report cited credible elements of “military support” from the United Arab Emirates to the RSF, an accusation refuted by Abu Dhabi.