The war has left 25 million Sudanese needing aid, but in El Fasher, an ever tightening siege is cutting off vulnerable civilians who urgently need such basic essentials as food, water and medicines.
Children walking to their shelter at a camp for internally displaced persons near El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, Sudan. (file)
UN News: There are several reports of people in Darfur dying from hunger. Does the UN have any current plans to provide aid to those affected?
Toby Harward: The UN is committed to providing food, nutrition, medicine and other humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations across the five Darfur states.
However, we have two existential challenges: we cannot provide the volume and scale required unless we have more financial resources to buy and preposition the aid and we cannot reach the vulnerable populations who need the aid unless we have access provided by the warring parties.
We hope that the pledges made at the recent Paris donors’ conference will help resolve our first challenge. As for access, we are constantly advocating with the warring parties, and with those countries who can influence them, to give us the humanitarian access that we need to respond and to alleviate the effects of an expected famine.
UN News: The UN has been repeatedly calling for de-escalation and the protection of civilians in Sudan, but it seems the parties are not yet ready for this. In your opinion, why is that?
Toby Harward: The UN has been calling for de-escalation and protection of civilians since the outbreak of the conflict more than one year ago. However, these calls fall on deaf ears.
The warring parties are more preoccupied in gaining military advantage on the ground rather than in finding ways to halt the fighting. Unfortunately, soldiers, fighters and militiamen fighting on the ground are not thinking about international humanitarian law and notions like protecting civilians.
A second reason why the parties are not listening to appeals for de-escalation is that the conflict has become increasingly internationalised, with other countries becoming engaged and supporting one side or the other. This results in the conflict becoming more complicated.
A war with multiple international actors becomes harder to mediate and to resolve. It is essential that mediators gather the warring parties and their backers together around the negotiating table and bring the war to an end.
After more than a year of senseless war, the suffering of innocent civilians has got to stop.