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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END

Sudan: Darfur rebellion started in 2003 never ended

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: When did the Darfur conflict started in 2002/3 end? It didn't end because the root causes were never resolved. See below: 'The root causes of the Darfur conflict: A struggle over controlling an environment that can no longer support all the people who must live on it'.

The report from Chad is by @paraicobrien and @Zahra_ZW of @Channel4News. The stories of individual families forced to free #darfur are terrifying. History repeats itself, more brutally than ever. https://t.co/doXrL9khPZ

— Lindsey Hilsum (@lindseyhilsum) July 11, 2023

_________________________ 

Sudan Watch - 14 July 2006
'The root causes of the Darfur conflict: A struggle over controlling an environment that can no longer support all the people who must live on it'

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2006/07/root-causes-of-darfur-conflict.html

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Sudan: Thanasis Pagoulatos ran Khartoum's historic Acropole Hotel. Then he had to leave it all behind

THANASIS PAGOULATOS led his family business, Khartoum’s oldest inn, through decades of tumult. Sudan's latest breakdown proved too much. One of the few items he took when he fled Sudan in April was a note handwritten by Mother Teresa, after she stayed at the hotel. It says "God is love and he loves you. Love others as God loves you. God bless you." Read more.

Article at The New York Times
By Matina Stevis-Gridneff
Matina Stevis-Gridneff, a former guest at Khartoum’s Acropole Hotel, traveled to Athens to interview Thanasis Pagoulatos after his evacuation.
Published 16 June 2023 - here is a full copy:

He Ran Sudan’s Most Storied Hotel. Then He Had to Leave Everything Behind.

Thanasis Pagoulatos led the family business, Khartoum’s oldest inn, through decades of tumult. Sudan’s latest breakdown proved too much.

Image: Thanasis Pagoulatos, whose family built up the historic Acropole Hotel in Khartoum, was forced to evacuate Sudan in April. Credit...Eirini Vourloumis for The New York Times

Even as fighter jets tore through Khartoum’s skies in April and the streets became a dystopian war zone amid a showdown between rival Sudanese fighters, Thanasis Pagoulatos had no intention of fleeing.

Born 79 years ago to a Greek immigrant father and a mother from Egypt’s Greek diaspora, Mr. Pagoulatos had really known only one home: Sudan.

That’s where his family had put down deep roots, growing a business, the Acropole Hotel, that flourished through decades of near-constant upheaval. They were part of a thousands-strong Greek community that became integrated into Sudan and stayed on after the country’s independence from British colonial rule in 1956.

Through it all, life in that vast land  went on — and so did the Acropole.

Housed in an inconspicuous mustard-colored building in downtown Khartoum, the hotel teemed with archaeologists, journalists, humanitarians and adventurous travelers.

Image: The Acropole Hotel in Khartoum, in late April. Credit...Pavlos Pagoulatos, via Reuters

The Pagoulatos father, Panaghis, opened it in 1952, after arriving in Sudan seeking a better life as his native Greek island of Cephalonia lay in the ruins of the Second World War.

But the elder Pagoulatos died suddenly, leaving the hotel and other businesses in the hands of his powerhouse wife, Flora, and their three sons, Thanasis, 19 at the time, and the younger George and Makis.

The brothers, under the guidance of their mother, focused on family hospitality rather than luxury, and established the Acropole Hotel as a vital node in Sudan’s interactions with the outside world.

While offering basic accommodation — pristine but bare rooms, three square meals, consistent air-conditioning in temperatures regularly soaring over 100 degrees Fahrenheit — the family made the place a home. Guests flocked and returned, spurning fancier, bigger hotels.

Flora Pagoulatos died in 2010, but Mr. Pagoulatos and his brothers, their wives and later their children continued to run the hotel. Regular guests remembered each brother’s unique personality.

George, the middle one, was charming and discreet, an unflappable problem-solver. Makis, the youngest, was energetic and steadfast, and when Greece shut down its embassy in 2015, he became honorary consul, and the Acropole, the consulate. Thanasis was gentle and meticulous, paying attention to detail.

In his eight decades in Khartoum, Thanasis Pagoulatos — a tall man with soft white hair, blue eyes and a gentle voice — saw it all: coups (nearly a dozen), wars (civil, and with neighbors), famines (two).

In May 1988, he was in the hotel when a terrorist detonated a bomb, killing seven guests. With his brothers, he moved the whole business to the hotel’s annex across the street and carried on.

Image: Photographs of the original site of the Acropole Hotel, after it was bombed in May 1988. Credit...Eirini Vourloumis for The New York Times

When, in mid-April, heavy fighting broke out between the country’s army and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Mr. Pagoulatos cooped up in the hotel with his sister-in-law Eleonora, three staff members and four guests, and waited. Makis was in Greece at the time, and the hotel’s 50 rooms were mostly unoccupied, in part because of security concerns.

“We thought, ‘It will pass, it always does,’” he said in a recent interview in Athens, where he reluctantly evacuated to join the rest of his family.

Losing his beloved brother George, Eleonora’s husband, months earlier had already made this a terrible period for the Pagoulatoses. How much worse could it possibly get? It turned out, quite a lot.

For the first few days of the fighting, encouraged by Mr. Pagoulatos, the group — one Sudanese and two Philippine staff members, two German tourists, and a Brazilian and an Italian archaeologist — stayed calm.

They had no running water or electricity, but the kitchen had a basic stock of food and drinking water. Mr. Pagoulatos couldn’t fully fathom the chaos that was spreading across his beloved city, but he did know that it was at his doorstep.

Image: Khartoum at the beginning of May. Credit...Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters

Fighters would barge in demanding food or drinks and Mr. Pagoulatos obliged, to keep the group safe. At night, he recalled with terror, men rattled the padlocked front door.

Responsibility for his guests and staff weighed on him. “I felt that these people stayed with us, and through no fault of their own, they were in this situation,” he said. “Who would look after them? It had to be us.”

As civilians in Khartoum desperately sought help, and embassies rushed to get their staffs out, a small global tribe connected by the Acropole scrambled for news of Mr. Pagoulatos.

Central to that was Roman Deckert, a German researcher who first stayed at the hotel in 1997 and returned over the years, developing a bond with the family and recording their history.

Throughout their childhood in Khartoum, the Pagoulatos brothers often visited their father’s ancestral land in Greece. But Mr. Pagoulatos said he always yearned to return to Sudan. When he and his brothers were grown and married, they all lived near the hotel in the same building, and their children were raised like siblings, not cousins.

Mr. Pagoulatos was raised speaking Greek, Arabic and English. But he also picked up French and Italian, which came in handy at the hotel because over the decades, the family’s worldliness and interest in culture made the Acropole a hub and a symbol of Sudan’s cosmopolitanism. Before the application of Islamic law, the hotel held regular music events, and film nights on its breezy terrace.

“They made it easy for Westerners and other Africans to fall in love with Sudan and the Sudanese,” Mr. Deckert said. “They played a huge role in relaying a brighter side of Sudan to the world.”

Image: Mr. Pagoulatos and his brothers, as well as their wives and later their children, made the hotel a home. Credit...Eirini Vourloumis for The New York Times

For travelers like Dale Raven North, a Canadian lawyer who stayed at the Acropole last November, Mr. Pagoulatos and his family offered a haven. “It ended up being, I think, my favorite place I have ever stayed because of the Pagoulatos family and the environment they created,” she said.

For international correspondents, the Acropole was a home. Lindsey Hilsum, the British broadcaster, said in an interview from eastern Ukraine that she stayed at the Acropole during the 1980s, drawn by reasonable rates, safety and a telex machine that correspondents fought over to file dispatches.

For archaeologists, Mr. Pagoulatos and his brothers created a launchpad for decades of expeditions that uncovered treasures and secrets of the evolution of mankind.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that nearly none of the foreign archaeological projects in Sudan would have functioned without them,” said the Munich-based archaeologist Kate Rose.

Image: A handwritten note left by Mother Teresa after she stayed at the hotel. It was one of the few items Mr. Pagoulatos managed to take with him when he fled Sudan. Credit...Eirini Vourloumis for The New York Times

After 10 days holed up in the Acropole, Mr. Pagoulatos and the others with him were out of food and water. Through a contact at the Italian Embassy, they had been put on an evacuation list, and he got permission from the militiamen to set out on foot into the heat and dust of a devastated Khartoum. The group of nine walked past decomposing bodies, slowly taking in the full scale of the calamity.

Along the way, an elderly Sudanese man — “an angel,” Mr. Pagoulatos said — invited them into his home. The next morning, he found them a car to take them to an evacuation assembly point.

Mr. Pagoulatos and his sister-in-law were flown by the French military to neighboring Djibouti. Since they reached Athens, Mr. Pagoulatos, still shaken and emotional, has been feeling relief, but also a desire to go home to Khartoum.

“We left behind an icon of Jesus that survived the 1988 terrorist attack, and the big collage that the nongovernmental organizations gave us for our help during the famine,” Mr. Pagoulatos said.

“We need to get them,” he said. “We just thought we’d help the guests leave and go back to work two or three days later.”

A correction was made on June 16, 2023: An earlier version of this article misstated the year that Sudan gained independence from Britain and the year that the Acropole opened. Sudan gained independence in 1956, and the hotel opened in 1952, not the other way around.

Matina Stevis-Gridneff is the Brussels bureau chief, leading coverage of the European Union. She joined The Times in 2019. @MatinaStevis

A version of this article appears in print on June 17, 2023, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: A Lifetime of Hospitality, Disrupted by War in Sudan. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

READ 41 COMMENTS

View original and 41 comments here: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/16/world/africa/sudan-war-khartoum-acropole-hotel.html

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VIDEO: Atrocities as fighting rages in Darfur Sudan

Report by Channel 4 News

By Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor 

Dated Tuesday 16 May 2023

Sudan: reports of civilians atrocities as fighting rages

Fighting continues to rage between government troops and rebel militia forces in Sudan, despite efforts to impose a ceasefire.

And this programme has heard increasing reports of civilians being murdered and raped, along with large scale looting.

Rapid Support Forces fighters have claimed control of a key military base in the capital Khartoum – while in western Darfur, more civilians are being killed in the city of El Geneina, scene of some of the worst violence in the country.

View original: https://www.channel4.com/news/sudan-reports-of-civilians-atrocities-as-fighting-rages

Channel 4 is a British public broadcast service.

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VIDEO GENEINA DARFUR: Sudan’s warring leaders agree new 7-day ceasefire – but civil war fears grow

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: This depressing stomach churning video also provides Matt Frei’s video interview with Professor Mukesh Kapila, UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Sudan, 2003-2004 who predicts the current Sudan crisis, not yet called a civil war, to result in 2 million or more refugees.

Report from Channel 4 News UK

By Lindsey Hilsum

International Editor

Dated Tuesday 2 May 2023 - full copy:

Sudan’s warring generals agree new ceasefire – but civil war fears grow

Sudan’s warring generals have agreed – in principle at least – to a seven day ceasefire starting on Thursday [May 4], as fighting continues in the capital Khartoum.

That’s where much of the focus on this conflict has been –  but we’ve managed to get exclusive footage which reveals how civilians have been targeted in El Geneina in the western Darfur region.

More than 200 people have been killed in attacks in the past week, with no health care facilities left open to treat the wounded.

View original and video showing El Geneina, West Darfur in western Sudan here: https://www.channel4.com/news/sudans-warring-generals-agree-new-ceasefire-but-civil-war-fears-grow

The video can be seen at YouTube here: https://youtu.be/Sxq2OxZiXtk

View more videos of the Sudan crisis here: https://www.channel4.com/news/by/lindsey-hilsum

Channel 4 is a public service broadcasting service.

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