Irish aid agencies have joined the UN in severely curtailing humanitarian operations in southern Sudan after being subjected to a campaign of intense aerial bombing over the last six weeks.
In one incident a Concern compound was hit by two bombs, prompting the evacuation of seven aid workers to neighbouring Kenya and the suspension of aid operations.
Sudanese government aircraft have dropped more than 300 bombs in 40 raids over rebel-held southern Sudan since the beginning of July. At least 10 civilians have been killed and several hundred injured by the crude air attacks, where troops push bombs from ageing Russian cargo aircraft.
While civilians have been regularly attacked, aid agencies are now worried that the government appears to be specifically targeting their operations for the first time. Earlier this week a World Food Programme compound in the worst-affected province of Bahr el-Ghazal was bombed twice, prompting the UN to evacuate its staff from the town and suspend all relief flights into southern Sudan.
The Irish aid agency Concern evacuated its staff from Nyamlel, also in Bahr el-Ghazal province, after being raided in late July. The bombs fell just metres from the rough foxholes where Concern workers were sheltering.
"We saw the plane flying directly overhead and dug in as tightly as we could. My colleague started to pray. Next thing shrapnel and stones were flying everywhere and the compound was filled with smoke and strong fumes," said the programme manager, Mr Alesio Clement, by phone from northern Kenya. It was the second time Nyamlel, which accommodated at least 1,500 civilians displaced by other fighting, had been bombed.
Other Irish agencies have also been affected. Trocaire has suspended two agricultural aid programmes run by partner organisations, and GOAL has evacuated some field personnel.
The government of Sudan had broken an undertaking not to bomb aid agencies operating under the Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) umbrella, the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, said.
In one case, a UN aircraft carrying aid workers and relief supplies narrowly avoided being hit by a wave of 18 bombs while sitting on an airstrip during one of the raids.
In a separate incident, an aircraft from the International Committee of the Red Cross, which carefully cultivates neutral relations with both government and rebels, was reportedly shadowed by government Antonov bombers while landing and then bombed on the runway. The Sudanese government had been informed of both flights at least 24 hours earlier, in accordance with procedure.
It was not clear why the Sudanese government was suddenly attacking the UN and aid agencies, a Sudan analyst in Nairobi said. "In the past they have accused agencies of helping the rebels although there was no credible evidence. But they aren't committed to the people of the south and don't like the amount of humanitarian aid going in there," he said.
The World Food Programme executive director, Ms Catherine Bertini, said it was "obvious the attackers don't care whether the hungry starve to death or not". Other aid agencies also publicly condemned the bombing but governments have not been so forthright in their criticism.
After years as a pariah state, Sudan is currently cultivating relations with Western countries, some of which have recently reestablished diplomatic links with Khartoum. Sudan is expected to apply to have sanctions against it lifted next November.
A Trocaire programme officer, Ms Anne Holmes, called on the Irish Government to condemn both the bombing and the recent exploitation of oil resources in Sudan by Western companies.