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John Ging, director of operations
for the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs. Photo by: Mark Garten / UN
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Aid officials are set to discuss
Thursday (Jan. 10) pressing issues relating to the humanitarian situation in
the Sudanese conflict-afflicted states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
The goal of the tightly held meeting
in Geneva is to inform aid policy by assessing ongoing violence and delivery
challenges on the ground, sources close to the issue tell Devex. It will be
attended by representatives of U.N. agencies, nongovernmental organizations and
donors.
The gathering comes on the heels of
the signing
of two tripartite agreements put forward by the United Nations, the African
Union and the League of Arab States in August. The Sudanese government and the
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (North) have agreed — on different terms — to allow humanitarian
aid access to rebel-held areas in both states. None of that rhetoric has born
fruit on the ground to date, aid officials insist.
“To date, inspite of all the intense
efforts and the best efforts of very many, we have not been able to gain
access,” Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ Director of Operations John Ging
said
Jan. 8 after a Security Council briefing.
“We hope now for the support of the
Council in generating a political incentive, motivation, impetus that will get
us across the line from just rhetoric to action. It’s now well past the time of
gaining access to help these people,” he added.
Ging asked the Security Council to act
on a May resolution that also calls on both parties to allow aid access to the
two areas or face ”additional
measures.” These may include severance of
diplomatic relations or the interruption of economic relations.
“We have to call it as it is: So far,
we have failed,” Ging said. “What are the prospects? Continued failure unless
there is an injection of more political will to turn back failure into success.
We don’t need more process, we need now access.”
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