يوميات الثورة السودانية – الجزء الثانى

Quote: On the Visit of Baroness Valerie Amos to Khartoum The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Baroness Valerie Amos, is visiting Khartoum from the 20th to the 23rd of May. We learned from Khartoum that her program will include meeting General Bashir and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and HAC, the Sudan government humanitarian agency. She may travel to Darfur. This visit is coming at a crucial and critical time for the Sudanese people as Sudan is witnessing the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa today that includes Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains/South Kordofan, North Kordofan and Darfur. Around 4 million of the civilian population have been displaced or have become refugees as a result of the ongoing war in Darfur for one decade, and in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile where humanitarian access has been denied for two years by the Sudan government as it simultaneously launched aerial and ground bombardments against the civilian population. More than 24 civilians were killed in the last three months in Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains alone and more were injured as a result of the Sudan air force aerial bombardment against civilian targets. More than 700 were arrested among the internally displaced in the government held areas and among activists in different states, mostly from the SPLM-N. Some of them have been tortured and some were sentenced to death. Those who were arrested include 138 in Blue Nile state – some were sentenced to death. Around 200 were arrested in the Nuba Mountains/South Kordofan, which includes 45 women (some are with kids and some were pregnant), and more than 50 leaders of the SPLM-N, including 2 members of our negotiating team for the peace talks under the AUHIP are in custody. More than 200 were arrested from Darfur and North Kordofan, including activists from various organizations, including the SPLM-N. The visit comes at a time when, in the last four months in 2013, those who were displaced in Darfur are greater in number than in the whole year of 2012. Khartoum is not interested in addressing the humanitarian situation and as usual is buying time, using the visits of high profile international officials to give lip service to the humanitarian situation. The Sudanese regime and General Bashir have been the largest manufacturer of the humanitarian crisis in Africa for 24 years continuously and the present regime has a long record of targeting civilian populations and destroying lives. They are permanently on the humanitarian crisis list for almost a quarter of a century – the same regime with the same personalities. Meanwhile we appreciate the efforts of Baroness Valerie Amos, although the government has never allowed her to visit the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile. We are asking her to consider the following: 1. To visit the areas in Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains and Darfur that are outside of the control of the government, which have been denied access for two years in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile, and to see for herself and to report to the international community the depth of the humanitarian crisis in those areas rather than visiting the well selected areas by the government that do not reflect the magnitude of the crisis. 2. As she will be doing in Khartoum, to meet the political leadership and the humanitarian wing of the SPLM-N in her visit to Addis Ababa since the UN Security Council Resolution 2046 required both the Sudan government and the SPLM-N to address the humanitarian crisis and there is a need to get information from both sides in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2046. 3. To make it clear to the Sudan government and the Sudanese public the concern and the position of the United Nations humanitarian organs that denying access for humanitarian purposes is a war crime in international humanitarian law. On the proposal for vaccinations, the SPLM-N humanitarian wing expressed its readiness for a meeting with OCHA to work out the requirements and a detailed plan. We equally stated the need for a brief cessation of hostilities to carry out the vaccination plan since Khartoum refused for more than one year a full humanitarian cessation of hostilities. In the absence of a humanitarian agreement with Khartoum and given the war situation, there is a need to agree on where the vaccination program will originate from. Yasir Arman Secretary General, SPLM-N May 20, 2013