Sudan: Humanitarian Cry

By Yodit Admasu

Six months into the ongoing conflict in Sudan the number of people killed, wounded and displaced are escalating day by day. Sudan Tribune in its October 7 publication quoted ‘resistance committee’ in stating that over 9000 people have been killed since the conflict in Sudan broke out back in April 15, 2023.

According to the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) report about 5.5 million people have been displaced from their homes to seek shelter within the country and neighboring countries.

The report further states that 245 primary schools, five secondary schools and 25 education facilities are serving as shelters for the overwhelming number of IDPs. The little to none aid in these make shift shelters and other affected areas of the country are said to have led to the outbreak of Measles, malaria, dengue fever and cholera. The UN report also stressed that around half of Sudan’s population is in dire need of humanitarian aid.

The Refugees International on its part has voiced its concern on the ongoing human rights violations in the country. President of Refugee International, Jeremy Konyndyk on September 29, 2023 press release stated that, “This situation requires immediate and impartial investigation.” And has called on the UN to consider establishing a humanitarian verification mission in neighboring nations to ensure that arms are not being delivered under humanitarian auspices.

On a Sudanese diaspora rally at the White House Konyndyk said, “We are deeply alarmed about the grave human rights abuses across the country, but most urgently the disturbing parallels to the Darfur genocide from 20 years ago. Just this morning, Reuters published detailed accounts of systematic ethnic cleansing in El-Geneina.”

He further said “Crimes against humanity MUST matter just as much for a crisis in Africa as they do for a crisis in Europe.  President Biden must put the same kind of political and diplomatic muscle into stopping civilian atrocities in Sudan as he has into Ukraine.”

Beth Van Schaack, US Ambassador – at- Large for Global Criminal Justice back in September of this year spoke, “the United States strongly condemns, in the strongest terms, these horrific acts particularly killings on the bases of ethnicity committed by Rapid Support Forces and its allied militia in western Darfur. The ongoing violence occurring in Western Darfur and other areas.” Ambassador Schaack said, “We are also actively championing Human rights documentation initiatives in Sudan collectively these efforts can shed light on ongoing human rights abuses and violations and generate vital information for justice and accountability purposes.”

The Ambassador further indicated US’s Support to ‘Sudan Conflict Observatory’ a remote platform that collects data, photos, videos and verified information to carefully document to analyze the situation on the ground. She said a website -www.Sudanshahid.org is setup to collect evidences of human right violation for International Criminal Court (ICC) to put the perpetrators accountable for their heinous acts against humanity.