SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: International Rescue Committee - Sudan Watchlist Crisis Alert (Challenges)

25/6/2024: International Rescue Committee - Sudan Watchlist Crisis Alert (Challenges)

 FIVE SUMMARIES

The International Rescue Committee identified five challenges facing the response to Sudan’s humanitarian crisis.

1. TARGETING OF HUMANITARIAN WORKERS AND LOOTING OF SUPPLIES

Insecurity in Sudan makes it a difficult and dangerous place for aid delivery.

·      Increased violence along ethnic lines makes the situation even more challenging, as agencies must carefully consider the background of staff before deploying them to different regions of the country.

·      UN OCHA said that over 150 vehicles have been stolen from aid organizations, while 61 offices and 57 warehouses have been looted.

·      The World Food Programme (WFP) has estimated that over $13 million of food aid has been looted since the war began.

2. RESTRICTIONS ON AID DELIVERY

Sudan has the highest level for severity of access restraints according to the Assessment Capacities Project, contributing factors include:

·      Since the start of the conflict, hundreds of international NGO staff have faced lengthy delays in obtaining visas.

·      Approximately 30,000 metric tons of aid were sitting in Port Sudan, Al-Obeid and Kosti as of mid-May 2024, awaiting permissions for onward movement.

·      Security services in White Nile and Khartoum regularly seek to “accompany” humanitarian workers delivering aid and reportedly prevent access to certain locations.

·      Fighters at checkpoints sometimes demand pay-ments from humanitarian personnel to be allowed to pass.

3.  HUMANITARIAN ACTORS BLOCKED FROM CROSSING FRONTLINES AND BORDERS TO REACH PEOPLE IN NEED

With Sudan divided into regions of army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) control, aid must move across frontlines and borders to reach those who need it, but “both sides are consistently undermining these efforts”.

Following accusations that the RSF was transporting weapons from Chad, the army revoked its previous non-objection to cross-border aid delivery.

The only way for humanitarian aid to reach millions living in RSF-held parts of Sudan is by bringing it across frontlines within the country. Yet, to date, no sustained agreements on crossline aid access have been reached.

OCHA reported that denial of permission to move within Sudan or to cross an international border, combined with ongoing conflict, blocked the transport of humanitarian aid to over 600,000 in Darfur, 300,000 in Kordofan and 100,000 in Khartoum. Since August 2023, there have been almost no crossline deliveries in Khartoum state due to this.

4. TARGETING AND DESTRUCTION OF ESSENTIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

·      Sudan’s health care system has virtually collapsed, with at least 307 incidents of violence against health care workers or facilities recorded since the war began.

·      Both sides reportedly use facilities for military purposes.

·      Banking operations are almost completely suspended as many bank headquarters, most of which were based in Khartoum, have been closed due to insecurity, power outages and looting.

·      Both sides were blamed for regular and widespread telecommunications outages

5. WEAK RESPONSE LEADERSHIP AND ENGAGEMENT OF LOCAL RESPONDERS

Although humanitarian organisations depend on coordination and information provided by UN agencies, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) say that “a lack of UN leadership and the limited presence of UN agencies and staff across the country, including senior decision-makers and essential monitoring teams, are undermining efforts to ensure assistance reaches those most in need”. 

The IRC add that decisions made by the UN-led Humanitarian Country team lack explanations, instructions or monitoring, with field-level coordination structures “ineffective” and “meetings sporadic”.

The IRC further claim that UN-led coordination efforts take place in English which “excludes many local organizations and responders without whom an appropriate, at-scale response cannot happen”.

Yet, three out of every five dollars provided by donors for the Sudan response has been directed to UN agencies, despite their comparatively limited presence, while locally led organisations and responders have been “woefully underfunded”.