The famine in Sudan has been caused by the actions of that country's army, a Sudanese bishop said in Dublin yesterday. Speaking at a briefing organised by the development agency Trocaire, Bishop Macram Max Gassis called on the international community to launch an emergency relief operation without the assent of the Sudanese government. "For how long is the international community going to say they won't go in because they want to respect a regime which wants to kill its own people?"
The Sudanese government had promised the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, last month that it would allow a delegation into the Nuba mountains to assess the seriousness of the situation there, Bishop Gassis said. But the regime had not yet given permission to such a delegation. The Sudanese civil war, which began in 1983, coupled with recent drought, has brought severe food shortages and famine to southern Sudan. Aid agencies estimate that up to two million people are facing malnutrition, hunger and possibly death. Over 85 per cent of the area's population is estimated to have been displaced from their homes due to the crisis.
Bishop Gassis, who is Bishop of El Obeid in Sudan but lives in exile in Nairobi, Kenya, thanked Trocaire and the Government for their efforts in bringing aid to Sudan. If it had not been for them, he said, the situation in Nuba would be a lot worse.
Mr Bona Malwal, a former Sudanese government minister and now editor of a London-based opposition newspaper, said the famine resulted directly from the policies of the Sudanese regime.
He said the drought and the effects it would have in southern Sudan had been known about since last September, yet the Sudanese government had stopped all flights to the area late last year. The civil war meant that roads were in disrepair and so relief could only be brought in by air. The regime in Khartoum had thus directly made the situation worse.
A ceasefire had now been in place for two weeks but food was still not getting through. He called on the international community to bypass the Sudanese government to help the Sudanese people.
The Sudanese government had agreed to only a one-month ceasefire despite an offer from the Sudanese People's Liberation Army - the other side in the civil war - of a three-month cessation. Bishop Gassis queried whether food aid given by the international community would get to the people in need unless there was very close supervision. "Who is going to supervise the distribution of food? It will be taken by the Islamic militias and the Sudan government to feed their soldiers. Even in SPLA-controlled areas I don't want to see the food going straight to their soldiers. I want it to go to the people. The only way to do it is to work through the dioceses or church-related organisations."
Trocaire yesterday issued a further appeal for funds for its relief effort in southern Sudan. The organisation has spent £549,000 on emergency food aid, seeds, tools and emergency food and agricultural kits for Sudan. The organisation, which has worked in Sudan for 25 years, hopes to raise a further £1 million through its Sudan appeal.