UK CHANNEL 4 NEWS VIDEO FROM CHAD-SUDAN. UK doubles its aid to Sudan to £89m as crisis escalates

Report from Channel 4 News UK
By LINDSEY HILSUM

International Editor for Channel 4 News

Dated Thursday, 28 March 2024 - here is a copy in full:

War and hunger force hundreds of thousands to flee Sudan

The UK is almost doubling its aid to Sudan, to £89 million, as the humanitarian crisis there continues to escalate.

It’s almost a year since Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces turned on each other – plunging the country into war. Millions have been displaced and half the population is facing famine.

The new conflict also re-ignited the two-decade-long war in the Darfur region, with the RSF and allied Arab militia resuming their slaughter of the ethnic African Masalit tribe.

More than half a million people have fled to overcrowded camps in Chad, where food supplies are also dwindling.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW CHANNEL 4 NEWS VIDEO FROM CHAD-SUDAN.

Channel 4 is a British public broadcast service.

Video credits:
Channel 4 News @Channel4News

Reporter: 

@lindseyhilsum

Producer: 

@Zahra_ZW

Camera: Soren Munk

7:52 PM · Mar 28, 2024

Source: https://www.channel4.com/news/war-and-hunger-force-hundreds-of-thousands-to-flee-sudan

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Related

Press release

From Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and

The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP

Dated Thursday, 28 March 2024 - here is a copy in full:

UK to nearly double aid for Sudan as humanitarian crisis deepens

The UK announced more support for people in Sudan, including funding to UNICEF for emergency food assistance and support for survivors of gender-based violence.

• UK support includes food and water for 500,000 children under 5 as Sudan’s humanitarian crisis grows
• the funding boost comes as the UK’s Development and Africa Minister, Andrew Mitchell visits the Chad-Sudan border, witnessing the crisis first-hand
• the UK again calls on the warring parties to commit to a lasting ceasefire and lift restrictions which are preventing aid reaching those who need it the most

The UK has today implemented additional support for people in Sudan, 1 year on from the start of the conflict.

This will include funding to UNICEF which will provide emergency and life-saving food assistance to support people particularly in hard-to reach areas in Sudan, including nutrition, water and hygiene services for 500,000 children under 5.  It will also support survivors of gender-based violence. The UK is committing an additional £4.95 million to provide 100,000 women and girls with a range of female genital mutilation, child marriage and gender-based violence prevention and response services.

The boost has been announced by the UK Minister for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell, during a 2-day visit to Chad where he visited a site for refugees driven over the border into Chad by the violence.  

In addition, the UK will be working with the World Food Programme to assist over 285,000 beneficiaries for 6 months by providing 13,405 tons of assorted food commodities.  These include cereals, pulses, oils and salt. 

It is part of a £89 million package the UK will deliver in Sudan in 2024 to 2025 – up from nearly £50 million in the current financial year.  

The  conflict in Sudan has caused more than 8 million people to flee their homes, with over 6 million displaced within Sudan itself. After almost a year of conflict, 25 million people in Sudan need assistance, and the country is on the verge of a catastrophic hunger crisis.  The UN has formally warned of the risk of famine in this year, with 18 million currently facing hunger in the country.

Minister for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell, said: 

The conflict in Sudan is devastating lives. Millions are displaced and facing catastrophic hunger conditions. There is growing evidence of atrocities against civilians.

The package announced today will help save lives. We have not forgotten the war in Sudan - nor must the world. The urgent priority is to end the violence.

Whilst in Chad, Minister Mitchell met with the President of the Transition, Mahamat Deby and Prime Minister Masra to underline UK support for peaceful, transparent and inclusive elections. They also discussed how the UK and Chad could work together towards peace in Sudan. 

Photo: Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell during his visit to Chad, meeting refugees fleeing from violence and hunger in Sudan.

Background

• the UK calls on both sides to end the fighting, to abide by their responsibilities under International Humanitarian Law, to protect civilians and to grant immediate and unrestricted humanitarian access to allow the provision of, and access to, lifesaving assistance
• the UK provided nearly £50 million in ODA funding for Sudan in 2023 to 2024 (including over £42 million in humanitarian assistance) *  for the next financial year (2024 to 2025), overall UK aid to Sudan will increase to £89 million. We have also been helping those fleeing to neighbouring countries as a result of the conflict in Sudan, providing £7.75 million in South Sudan including to support existing and new refugees, and £15 million to Chad over the last year
• the conflict in Sudan began last April when violence erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Tensions between SAF General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) had been escalating for months following disagreements on a transition to a civilian led government
• the humanitarian crisis has been heighted by restrictions to humanitarian access and communications blackouts. More than 700,000 people have crossed from Sudan into eastern Chad, putting pressure on already vulnerable communities and stretched services
• reports of conflict-related sexual violence are widespread cross Sudan. The conflict also risks setting back progress in the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage
• throughout the conflict the UK aid-funded Sudan Free of FGM project has kept working to protect women and girls. The UK is providing an additional £4.95 million, which aims to support 100,000 additional women and girls with a range of female genital mutilation, child marriage and gender-based violence prevention and response services until March 2026.  This brings the total UK support to £19.95 million. The project has provided over 83,000 consultations for sexual and reproductive health services, helped over 100,000 people with mental health and psychosocial support, supported over 9,000 survivors of FGM, child marriage, and gender-based violence and protected over 11,700 children in child-friendly spaces
• the UK aid-funded Sudan Free of FGM works with communities to alter social attitudes around FGM and child marriage, supports survivors of gender-based violence, and provides sexual and reproductive health care. It is delivered by UNICEF, the World Health Organisation, and the United Nations Population Fund
• Sudan has one of the highest rates of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the world and is one of the few countries where child marriage remains legal. Nearly 9 in 10 women and girls aged 15 to 49 have undergone some form of FGM. 60% of girls are married before they turn 18

Media enquiries

Email newsdesk@fcdo.gov.uk

Telephone 020 7008 3100

Contact the FCDO Communication Team via email (monitored 24 hours a day) in the first instance, and we will respond as soon as possible.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-to-nearly-double-aid-for-sudan-as-humanitarian-crisis-deepens

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Sudan Watch - March 17, 2024

From Chatham House 

EXPERT COMMENT by Dame Rosalind Marsden March 14, 2024

'Sudan’s forgotten war: A new diplomatic push is needed'

Ali Karti, SG of Sudan’s Islamic Movement, widely seen as a mastermind of Sudan's war, has now announced a truce with RSF will never be accepted

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/03/ali-karti-sg-of-sudans-islamic-movement.html

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Troika statement on South Sudan Elections 2024

The Troika (Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States) have reaffirmed their call for peaceful elections in South Sudan. Updated: 20 March 2024

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US finds war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Sudan war

Report from Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Dated Wed, 06 Dec 2023 - 23:49. Modified: 23:47 - here is a copy in full:

US finds war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Sudan war

Washington (AFP) – The United States said Wednesday that Sudan's rival forces have both committed war crimes in their brutal conflict and alleged a new ethnic cleansing campaign in scarred Darfur.

The US State Department has accused the Rapid Support Forces of carrying out ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in Darfur © - / AFP/File

After months of rising concern and frustration at the failure of talks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented findings following an evaluation by the State Department.

Blinken said that both the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) -- whose longstanding tensions erupted into wide-scale violence on April 15 -- have committed war crimes.

The RSF has also carried out ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, he said, pointing to accounts of mass killings by the largely Arab force and its allied militias against the ethnically African Masalit people in Darfur.

Blinken said the campaign had "haunting echoes of the genocide that began almost 20 years ago in Darfur."

"Masalit civilians have been hunted down and left for dead in the streets, their homes set on fire and told that there is no place in Sudan for them," Blinken said, pointing as well to sexual violence.

Both the Sudanese army and the RSF "have unleashed horrific violence, death and destruction across Sudan," Blinken said in a statement.

The two sides "must stop this conflict now, comply with their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, and hold accountable those responsible for atrocities," he added.

Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, Burhan's former deputy, teamed up in October 2021 to derail a fragile transition to democracy in Sudan, where mass protests helped end decades of autocratic rule.

The violence erupted in April as the two failed to agree on the integration of the RSF into the army in line with a roadmap to civilian rule.

Darfur -- roughly the size of France and home to around a quarter of Sudan's 48 million people -- is deeply scarred by a scorched-earth campaign launched two decades ago by the RSF's predecessor, 

the Janjaweed militia © - / AFP/File

More than 10,000 people have been killed, according to a conservative estimate from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a monitor, with the United Nations saying 6.3 million more have been forced to flee their homes.

Echoes of scorched-earth Darfur war

Darfur -- roughly the size of France and home to around a quarter of Sudan's 48 million people -- is deeply scarred by a scorched-earth campaign launched two decades ago by the RSF's predecessor, the Janjaweed militia.

Then-dictator Omar al-Bashir used the Janjaweed to suppress non-Arab minorities -- a bloody campaign that eventually saw him charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.

Human Rights Watch in a recent report said that the RSF killed hundreds of Masalit civilians in early November in what had "the hallmarks of an organized campaign of atrocities."

Quoting survivors, they said the RSF and allied fighters "went on a rampage" through a camp of displaced people targeting the Masalit people after seizing a base from the army.

Blinken said both sides 'must stop this conflict now, comply with their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, and hold accountable those responsible for atrocities' 

© Brendan Smialowski / AFP

The UN human rights office also called for an investigation into what it described as "six days of terror" against Masalit civilians.

Two decades ago, the Darfur bloodshed drew international outrage, including a US finding of genocide, but the latest violence comes amid a flurry of crises, including the Gaza war and fighting in Sudan's neighbor Ethiopia where the United States has also alleged war crimes.

Ben Cardin, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called on the State Department to name a high-level envoy on the conflict who would "work with the Sudanese in support of their aspirations to establish a democratic, representative government."

The United States and Saudi Arabia have led negotiations aimed at ending the fighting, with the State Department initially hesitant to take actions that could alienate one side and break down communication.

But the two sides made no tangible progress when they met again a little over a month ago in the Saudi port city of Jeddah.

"The talks broke down because both parties -- (the army) and RSF -- repeatedly refused to adhere to the commitments that they made at those talks," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

View report at France24: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231206-us-finds-war-crimes-and-ethnic-cleansing-in-sudan-war

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Related report

From The Guardian

By Patrick Wintour Diplomatic Editor

Dated Tuesday, 22 August 2023 17.25 BST

Last modified on Tuesday 22 August 2023 17.59 BST

This article is more than 3 months old

War crimes being committed in Darfur, says UK minister Andrew Mitchell

Africa minister says civilian death toll horrific and UK is to send evidence to UN

War crimes and atrocities against civilians are being committed in Darfur, western Sudan, the UK’s Africa minister Andrew Mitchell said on Tuesday, becoming one of the first western officials to identify that the fighting in Sudan has developed into more than a power struggle between two rival factions.

Mitchell said there was growing evidence of serious atrocities being committed, describing the civilian death toll as horrific in a statement released by the Foreign Office. “Reports of deliberate targeting and mass displacement of the Masalit community in Darfur are particularly shocking and abhorrent. Intentional directing of attacks at the civilian population is a war crime.”

He added the UK would do all it could to assemble credible evidence to present to the UN security council, the UN Human Rights Council and the international criminal court.

There had been an expectation that the US would have explicitly joined the UK in making a formal atrocity determination, but so far the State Department has held off, partly because the US does not want to jeopardise talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, designed to end the civil war between Sudanese Armed Forces and the independent Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Observers claim the larger power struggle that broke out in April, with fighting in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, has provided cover for RSF allied forces to undertake ethnic cleansing in west Darfur, reviving memories of the genocide committed in Darfur 20 years ago.

The attacks on the Masalit and other ethnic communities are led by the Janjaweed militias allied with the RSF. The RSF is commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.

More than 300,000 Sudanese nationals have crossed the border into neighbouring Chad since the conflict broke out, according to the UN’s migratory agency.

Africa minister Andrew Mitchell is one of the first western officials to identify that the fighting in Sudan is more than a struggle between two factions. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Kate Ferguson, co-executive director of the human rights NGO Protection Approaches, welcomed Mitchell’s statement saying: “He is absolutely right to condemn not only the armed conflict between the SAF and RSF which is devastating Sudan but also to highlight the deliberate targeting and mass displacement of non-Arab communities in Darfur.

“These two related but distinct trajectories of violence require related but distinct solutions; this reality must be a cornerstone for the UK government and the entire international system in the pursuit of peace in Sudan.

The Saudi peace talks rely on progress being made between different bad faith actors over which Riyadh seems to have little leverage. Others say the true external players in Sudan are Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which are closely linked to the SAF and RSF respectively.

The ICC launched a new investigation into alleged war crimes in Sudan in July with ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan saying “we are in the midst of a human catastrophe”.

The UK has imposed sanctions on businesses linked to the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces in an effort to register its disapproval.

View original: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/22/war-crimes-being-committed-in-darfur-says-uk-minister-andrew-mitchell

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