Sudan: Brutal, targeted attacks on civilians must stop

"HUMANITARIAN organizations can no longer tolerate being prevented from responding to the immense needs in Sudan. International humanitarian law requires all parties to facilitate humanitarian operations. The people of Sudan have suffered enough. The time has come to guarantee a neutral, impartial humanitarian environment, and to provide aid that will truly meet people’s needs. History has shown that if belligerents comply with the laws of war, there is more hope of peace and reconciliation". Read more.

News Release from The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Dated Tuesday, 21 November 2023 SUDAN - here is a copy in full:

Sudan: Brutal, targeted attacks on civilians must stop

Patrick Youssef is regional director for Africa at the International Committee of the Red Cross. He has just returned from Sudan, where he met representatives of the government and of the Rapid Support Forces. As the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, he is sounding the alarm

Despair and violence have taken over in Sudan. Recent discussions in Jeddah have not resulted in a ceasefire – quite the opposite. Military activity is increasing in many parts of the country. A devastating humanitarian crisis is developing right in front of our eyes.

Weapons bring power. But that power imposes a responsibility on the warring parties – indeed, an obligation – to respect and protect the civilian population, as required by international humanitarian law.

This war has resulted in countless deaths and forced almost seven million people to flee the fighting. ICRC and Sudanese Red Crescent teams receive daily calls for help. Families are asking us to help them evacuate the sick, the wounded or members of their families, because they fear they will be arrested if they move on their own. Some report that members of their families have disappeared. Others describe desperate shortages of food and water. The price of a standard food basket has risen by 60% since April 2023, leaving some 20 million people facing acute food insecurity.

In Darfur, western Sudan, fighting has reached critical levels, affecting the populated areas of the main towns: Al Jeneina, Zalingei and Nyala. Military operations are seriously affecting the functioning of hospitals and depriving people of electricity and telecommunications.

Despite the dangers, we are making every effort to ensure that no-one is abandoned in the areas where we are operating. This week, we sent a surgical team and medical supplies to Al Jeneina University Hospital, where war-wounded patients are in urgent need of treatment.

We are constantly reminding all parties that they must allow the sick and injured to obtain medical care. In particular, this means refraining from harming people who are not participating in the fighting and allowing enemy wounded to receive treatment.

Today, at the request of the parties to the conflict, we have returned over 60 prisoners to their families in Nyala, southern Darfur. We are grateful that we could help reunite those families after months of separation. All these operations underline the importance of the ICRC’s neutrality and of its ability to work with all parties.

But the response is still very limited. Humanitarian organizations can no longer tolerate being prevented from responding to the immense needs in Sudan. International humanitarian law requires all parties to facilitate humanitarian operations. 

Simplifying the administrative formalities would be a first step towards this. We therefore reiterate our appeal to all sides, to take concrete, practical steps in line with the commitments they made during the talks in Jeddah.

The people of Sudan have suffered enough. The time has come to guarantee a neutral, impartial humanitarian environment, and to provide aid that will truly meet people’s needs. History has shown that if belligerents comply with the laws of war, there is more hope of peace and reconciliation.

About the ICRC

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.

 

For more information, please contact:

Germain Mwehu, ICRC Wad Madani, +249 912 150 735, gemwehu@icrc.org

Florian Seriex, ICRC Nairobi, +254 110 938 077, fseriex@icrc.org

Halimatou Amadou, ICRC Geneva, +41 79 868 55 83, hamadou@icrc.org

View original: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/sudan-brutal-targeted-attacks-on-civilians-must-stop

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Sudan: Hundreds of missing people. Are you looking for a member of your family? Here's how to get help

Everyday terror in Khartoum, the hundreds of notices of missing people are just appalling “M. 14, went out to buy bread on the morning of May 17 and has never been seen since…” #Sudan pic.twitter.com/zEysOMDrvq

— Sarra Majdoub (@SarraMajd) May 27, 2023

Looking for a family member? Here's how to get help, call ICRC:

هل تبحث عن أحد أفراد عائلتك؟ إليكم طريقة الحصول على المساعدة #السودان pic.twitter.com/C5QNF0XXrQ

— ICRC Sudan (@ICRC_Sudan) May 7, 2023

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How volunteers in Sudan are burying unknown victims of the conflict

Report from The Observers observers.france24.com

By Fatma Ben Hamad

Dated Wednesday 17 May 2023; 16:04; 16:10 - full copy:

How volunteers in Sudan are burying unknown victims of the conflict

Volunteers dig graves for civilian victims of fighting in Khartoum. © Hasbou Hadli

A month after clashes began between the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces, air strikes continue to pummel Sudan’s major cities while on the ground street battles rage. Bodies of both soldiers and civilians are piling up in the streets of the capital Khartoum, many of them remaining unclaimed due to the unstable security situation. Sudanese volunteers have launched an initiative to bury civilian victims of the civil war and locate the missing, dead or alive. 

People living in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, are finding themselves with no access to basic goods or medical care as street battles between the army and paramilitary groups continue to rage. Across the country, only 28 percent of hospitals are in operation. In the capital, the number drops to just 16 percent, according to the World Health Organization.

In mid-April, when clashes began between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group, our team received a number of images showing the bodies of both civilians and soldiers piling up in the streets of the capital. In many cases, the ongoing air raids and gunfire have meant that family, friends and medical teams have been unable to gather and bury the bodies of the dead. 

Since the second week of fighting, a group of volunteers working under the supervision of the Sudanese Red Cross and Red Crescent have been out in the streets of Khartoum, gathering the dead and burying them. 

These volunteers have posted contact numbers on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook so that people living in Khartoum – as well as the adjoining cities of Omdurman and Bahri, which, together, make up “greater Khartoum” – can call the team if they see a body. 

Volunteers have shared this post on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter that reads, in Arabic, "If you see a body in any area [in Khartoum], call us. This is a purely volunteer service, with no remuneration."

'I’ve had to collect heads that had been separated from their bodies, it's horrific'

Mohammad Moussa is a volunteer, based in Khartoum.  

“There aren’t a lot of us volunteers and we only have two cars – we use one to transport the volunteers and the other we are now using as a mortuary vehicle. It is not enough to cover the entire range of greater Khartoum, so we do one area at a time. The Red Crescent supports our initiative, without being able to participate because when there are humanitarian teams on the ground, they also have to assure their safety [Editor’s note: which is complicated by the many infractions of the ceasefire by the two parties in the conflict]. They do provide us with protective clothing and equipment so that we can pick up and conserve the bodies safely.”

VIDEO In this video, published by our team on April 19, you can see bodies in the streets of the Sudanese capital.

“It’s really hard because some bodies have already been outside for days – we are sometimes picking up bodies that are already in an advanced state of decomposition. Some have even been eaten by animals. I’ve had to collect heads that have been separated from their bodies, it’s horrific. Right off the bat, we faced administrative challenges, because none of the representatives of the local administration were in Khartoum in order to give us the necessary authorization to bury so many bodies”.

'The morgues of the few hospitals still in operation in Khartoum are overflowing'

“We therefore had to go get an authorisation in Jabel Aulia [39 km away] south of the city. The procedures also took a lot of time, due to the fragile security situation. As soon as we identify a body, either with personal documents or by fitting a description given by their family, the next step is to bury it. For others that we can't identify, in theory, we are supposed to store them in a morgue. But the morgues of the few hospitals still in operation in Khartoum are overflowing. Once, we had to leave a body in a vehicle all night until the graves were dug, since there was no space in the morgue at Jebel Aulia”.

أبوبكر عبدالمنعم محمد علي
مفقود من يوم الاحد 14 مايو الساعة 6 مساء آخر اتصال معاهو كان في السوق المركزي متجه على شارع الستين، تاني اتصلنا عليه ردو ناس الدعم السريع قالو اعتقلوهو ودايرين يحققو معاو وبعداك التلفون اتقفل
يرتدي جلابية بيجية
0912234350
0128828600#مفقودين_السودان pic.twitter.com/uhyfoqoy85

— ماربيلا (@MaarbellaO) May 16, 2023

This social media user is seeking information about a young man who disappeared on May 14 after being arrested at a checkpoint by the Rapid Security Forces.

“To a lesser degree, we are also trying to help to identify and find missing people. We find out about these people because their friends and family have posted about them online, seeking any information about their whereabouts. If we find a body that fits a description or has an identifying feature, then the teams will reach out to the family in question. We really work through word of mouth because some areas are completely cut off from internet and phone lines. Sometimes a missing person is, in reality, just holed up somewhere without access to a telephone and stuck because of the fighting. If that is the case, we’ll pass the information from city to city through our network of volunteers so that someone can give the family the news that their missing relative is still alive”.

“Tragically, this isn’t the first time that the streets of Khartoum have been covered with unknown victims of fighting. In 2022, several thousand victims of police brutality during pro-democracy protests were discovered in an advanced state of decomposition in the morgues of Khartoum and Omdurman, which were both overflowing with unidentified bodies”. 

Haitham Ibrahim is the press officer at the Sudanese Red Crescent. 

“We have currently deployed two teams of volunteers: one in central Khartoum, the other in Bahri [Editor’s note: Often known as "Khartoum Bahri", this town is located to the east of the town centre]. After the Jebel Aoulia operation, we were able to bury seven bodies there. Then, we were able to bury 11 more people in Afraa, north of Khartoum. Eventually, we were able to find space for more victims in Ash Shuqaylah. We are trying to communicate and coordinate with the two sides of the conflict in order to protect our volunteers.

Here, volunteers bury someone in a private garden because of the insecurity in the streets.

"We haven’t been able to advance more than that in Bahri and in the centre of Khartoum, because the fighting has intensified. But as soon as a ceasefire is put in place and respected, as soon as we get the greenlight to move around safely in the areas most affected, we’ll start working across a larger zone".

Since the start of the fighting in Sudan, at least 600 people, including civilians, have been killed and more than 5,100 have been seriously injured, the World Health Organization reported on May 16.

>> Read more on The Observers: In Khartoum, corpses litter the streets: ‘The fighting keeps residents from burying them’

View original: https://observers.france24.com/en/africa/20230517-khartoum-sudan-volunteers-bury-victims-of-conflict-bodies

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Sudan: ICRC’s first international shipment of humanitarian aid arrives in Port Sudan

News and photos released from

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Sunday 30 April 2023 - (SW Ed: yellow highlighting is mine) - full copy:

Sudan: ICRC’s first international shipment of humanitarian aid arrives in Port Sudan 

Geneva (ICRC) - Life-saving medical material departed from Amman, Jordan to Port Sudan today as part of emergency operations by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) following the outbreak of conflict in Sudan.

The 8 tonnes of humanitarian cargo includes surgical material to support Sudanese hospitals and volunteers from the Sudan Red Crescent Society (SRCS) who are providing medical care to people wounded in the fighting.

“Health-care workers in Sudan have been doing the impossible, caring for the wounded without water, electricity, and basic medical supplies,” said Patrick Youssef, ICRC’s regional director for Africa. “The logistics needed to bring in supplies amid an active conflict are extremely difficult, and we’re relieved to get this medical material into the country.”

The medical shipment includes anaesthetics, dressings, sutures and other surgical material that can treat thousands of people who may have been wounded by weapons. With hostilities still ongoing, ICRC teams will need guarantees of safe passage from the parties to the conflict to deliver this material to medical facilities in locations with active fighting, such as Khartoum.

 

Since commercial flights in Sudan were discontinued and civilian airspace became inaccessible, the ICRC has been working to overcome logistical and security challenges to help civilians in need who are trapped in the fighting. Delivering medical supplies to hospitals and helping them restore water and power lines remains its urgent priority.

The ICRC is grateful for the support of the authorities in Jordan -- where the ICRC has a major logistics hub -- who rapidly made an aircraft available to deliver this medical cargo. We also appreciate the cooperation shown by the civilian Sudanese authorities in charge of facilitating the arrival of aircraft with humanitarian goods and personnel on board.

The ICRC is sending a second airplane carrying additional ICRC medical supplies and emergency personnel.

The ICRC reminds the parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and to facilitate the work of medical and humanitarian personnel, treat detainees humanely and take all feasible precautions to avoid loss of life among civilians and damage to civilian objects and infrastructure.  

Note to editors: 

The ICRC has been present in Sudan since 1978 helping people affected by the conflict in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan. The ICRC’s work today, independently or in cooperation the Sudanese Red Crescent Society, includes supporting hospitals and health facilities with equipment and supplies, working with local water authorities on improving people’s access to clean water and supporting the authorities in providing rehabilitation services for people with disabilities.

                                              

Media contacts:
Alyona Synenko, ICRC Nairobi,
+254 716 897 265, asynenko@icrc.org

Crystal Wells, ICRC Geneva,
+41 77 963 75 74, cwells@icrc.org

Jessica Moussan ICRC Dubai,

+971 504 254 091, jmoussan@icrc.org 

Fatima Sator, ICRC Geneva,
+41 79 848 49 08, fsator@icrc.org

Imene Trabelsi, ICRC Beirut,
+961 3 13 83 53, itrabelsi@icrc.org

Alaa Nayel, ICRC Kuwait,
+965 966 73614, anayel@icrc.org

Matthew Morris, ICRC London,
+44 7753 809471 mmorris@icrc.org 

Galina Balzamova, ICRC Moscow,
+7 093 545 3534, gbalzamova@icrc.org

Frédéric Joli, ICRC Paris,
+33 6 20 49 46 30, fjoli@icrc.org

Yuriy Shafarenko, ICRC New York,
+1 917 631 1913, yshafarenko@icrc.org

Elizabeth Shaw, ICRC Washington DC,
+1 202 361 1566, egormanshaw@icrc.org

View original: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/sudan-first-international-shipment-humanitarian-aid-arrives-port-sudan

View Arabic version here: https://www.icrcnewsroom.org/story/ar/2052/sudan-icrc-s-first-international-shipment-of-humanitarian-aid-arrives-in-port-sudan

السودان: وصول أول شحنة مساعدات إنسانية دولية للّجنة الدولية إلى بورتسودان

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Sudan: UNHCR supporting 18,000 displaced by violence in Darfur & rushing relief to 40,000 IDPs in W. Darfur & 5,500 Sudanese in 12 villages in Chad

NOTE from Sudan Watch editor: Further below is a copy of UNHCR's SUDANFLASH Update dated 08 January 2020. It says it is supporting 18,000 people displaced by violence in Darfur and is rushing relief to 40,000 displaced people in West Darfur and that 5,500 people fled to 12 villages in Chad. 

I say, it is sad to note once again the lack of sanitation facilities, water and inadequate humanitarian aid: UNHCR provided plastic sheets to support construction of 50 emergency latrines (50 latrines for thousands of people!); the 5,500 who fled to Chad are staying in the open or under makeshift shelters, offering little to no protection from the elements. 

How on earth is a multi-billion dollar organisation such as UNHCR and partners managing to get away with providing inadequate basic aid after spending 15 years in Sudan to get it right in Darfur and nearby Chad?

• Additional distributions should bring the total number of recipients to 18,000 by 8 January. 
• More Non Food Items (NFIs) are in the pipeline. 
• A majority of the displaced, currently scattered at 25 gathering points, found shelter in schools, mosques and government buildings that are not equipped for this purpose and lack sanitation facilities and water. UNHCR provided plastic sheets to support the construction of 50 emergency latrines. 
• In addition to the internal displacement in West Darfur, some 5,500 individuals fled to 12 nearby villages in Chad, as assessed by a joint mission of UNHCR and Chadian authorities. They are staying in the open or under makeshift shelters, offering little to no protection from the elements. 

Extract from a report by Radio Dabanga.org 

Dated 09 January 2010 - EK GENEINA /KHARTOUM, SUDAN

UNHCR

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says that it and its partners are supporting 18,000 people displaced by violence in Darfur with urgently needed blankets and relief items.

In a flash update issued yesterday [Sudan Watch ed: see copy of UNHCR SUDANFLASH dated 08 Jan 2020 further below] the agency says that an inter-agency response through the Non-Food Item Pipeline, managed by UNHCR, is rushing relief items to some 40,000 displaced men, women and children in West Darfur. In addition, a UNHCR mission in Chad found some 5,500 Sudanese men, women and children who had fled across the border to seek shelter in 12 villages.

In the first days of the distribution, UNHCR distributed non-food item (NFI) kits to over 8,000 vulnerable people. Together with the UN Migration Agency IOM and SRCS (Sudanese Red Crescent Society), an additional 3,000 men, women and children received critical NFIs, including blankets, sleeping mats and jerry cans. Additional distributions should bring the total number of recipients to 18,000 by 8 January. More NFIs are in the pipeline, the statement says.

Photo: UNHCR and partners organising distribution of aid in El Geneina on 6 January. (Photo: UNHCR)

A majority of the displaced, currently scattered at 25 gathering points, found shelter in schools, mosques and government buildings that are not equipped for this purpose and lack sanitation facilities and water. UNHCR provided plastic sheets to support the construction of 50 emergency latrines.

In addition to the internal displacement in West Darfur, some 5,500 individuals fled to 12 nearby villages in Chad, as assessed by a joint mission of UNHCR and Chadian authorities. They are staying in the open or under makeshift shelters, offering little to no protection from the elements.

View Original: https://www.dab

angasudan.org/en/all-news/article/high-committee-west-darfur-crisis-not-tribal

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NOTE from Sudan Watch editor: 
Here is a copy of UNHCR SUDANFLASH UPDATE dated 08 January 2020:

WEST DARFUR 

UNHCR and partners support 18,000 people displaced by violence in Darfur with urgently needed blankets and relief items 

An inter-agency response through the Non-Food Item Pipeline, managed by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is rushing relief items to some 40,000 displaced men, women and children in West Darfur. 

In recent weeks, intercommunal clashes between Massalit and Arab tribes in El Geneina, West Darfur, displaced tens of thousands of people, most of whom had already been displaced before and resided in three camps for internally displaced people (IDPs). Current estimates put the total number of displaced at 40,000. In addition, a UNHCR mission in Chad found some 5,500 Sudanese men, women and children who had fled across the border to seek shelter in 12 villages. 

In the first days of the distribution, UNHCR distributed non-food item (NFI) kits to over 8,000 vulnerable people. Together with the UN Migration Agency IOM and SRCS (Sudanese Red Crescent Society), an additional 3,000 men, women and children received critical NFIs, including blankets, sleeping mats and jerry cans. Additional distributions should bring the total number of recipients to 18,000 by 8 January. More NFIs are in the pipeline. 

A majority of the displaced, currently scattered at 25 gathering points, found shelter in schools, mosques and government buildings that are not equipped for this purpose and lack sanitation facilities and water. UNHCR provided plastic sheets to support the construction of 50 emergency latrines. 

In addition to the internal displacement in West Darfur, some 5,500 individuals fled to 12 nearby villages in Chad, as assessed by a joint mission of UNHCR and Chadian authorities. They are staying in the open or under makeshift shelters, offering little to no protection from the elements. 

A Coordinated Response by UNHCR and Partners 

■ UNHCR coordinated the humanitarian response to the serious and evolving situation at the outset. In the meantime, OCHA has taken over this coordination. 

ISSUE NO. 1 – 8 JANUARY 2020 

Photo: UNHCR and partners organizing the distribution at the Municipality Distribution Center, El Geneina Town, West Darfur on 6 January 2020. ©UNHCR 

• NHCR together with IOM, ICRC and NGO partners, such as Catholic Relief Services and SRCS, is currently distributing urgently needed NFIs to the most vulnerable households. 
• UNHCR has informed over 100 IDP representatives on criteria how to identify and prioritize the most vulnerable. 
• WFP, WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, the Ministry of Health and NGO partners are supporting the health and nutrition responses, ranging from in-patient kits to ready-to-use therapeutic food. 
• Key Challenges 

• Security remains a major concern at distribution points and when dispatching materials to West Darfur. 
• Provision of sustainable shelter: Once people have relocated to a safe location, more sustainable shelter solutions, complemented with NFIs such as plastic sheeting and kitchen sets, will have to be provided. 

NFI Pipeline - Explained 

UNHCR manages the NFI Common Pipeline which is a source of reliable, predictable Emergency Shelter and Non-Food Items for partners. 

UNHCR procures, warehouses and transports NFIs to the locations of distribution in Darfur and beyond. Standardized processes reduce costs, avoid duplications of efforts, harmonize the quality and type of items, and thus promote effectiveness. 

This ensures a better response to urgent needs of newly displaced and disaster-affected populations who have lost their household belongings. The provision of NFIs has an important impact on health and dignity of refugees and IDPs by protecting them from the elements, providing physical protection (sun, rain and privacy), thus reducing health risks and increasing safety. 

[CONTACT US] 

Roland Schönbauer 

Senior External Relations Officer UNHCR Office Khartoum 

Tel.: +249 1 83 472 424 Email: schoenb@unhcr.org Twitter: @R_Schoenbauer

Doris Kuen 

Associate Reporting Officer (Protection) UNHCR Office Khartoum 

Tel.: +249 91 215 7165 Email: kuen@unhcr.org 

View Original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/uploads/media/5e1739bcc2be7.pdf