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U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov
(202) 712-43202002-113
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 27, 2002Contact: USAID Press Office
Washington, DC - The United States seeks immediate full humanitarian access to southern Sudan. The Government of Sudan (GOS) continues to manipulate food deliveries to civilians in opposition-held areas in southern Sudan by denying access to the UN/Operation Lifeline Sudan (UN/OLS). Most notably, the GOS has as of today imposed a total ban on humanitarian flights over Eastern and Western Equatoria on OLS and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has an internationally recognized mandate to assist populations in conflict zones. This effectively shuts down OLS humanitarian deliveries. The United States urges the GOS to approve all October flight clearance requests by the UN/OLS and cease all obstructive tactics to relief operations in the areas held by the opposition, in compliance with international law.
The United States condemns the significant increase in attacks on civilians by the GOS and notes with alarm the level of conflict of the parties in Sudan since the halt of the Machakos peace talks in early September. This has caused suffering among the civilian populations in the war zones and increased humanitarian needs. In the past week, bombing has directly caused heavy civilian casualties and has put many more civilians at risk. On September 21, 2002, the GOS bombed a cattle camp near Lui in southern Sudan, killing 13 civilians. Just past the camp is the airstrip that Samaritan's Purse, the U.S. government-funded humanitarian organization, uses to supply the only hospital in the area serving hundreds of thousands of people. This is the second attack in this area in 10 days. Reports from humanitarian organizations indicate that civilians are now avoiding relief centers out of fear that the GOS is targeting these facilities.
The United States calls on the Government of Sudan to respect its commitment to protect civilians from attack in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and the Agreement on the Implementation of Principles Governing the Protection and Provision of Humanitarian Assistance to War-Affected Civilian Populations signed by the Government of Sudan, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, and the United Nations in 1999, and other standards of international law.
For more on USAID assistance programs in Sudan, please visit www.usaid.gov/about/sudan
U.S. Agency for International Development is the government agency that has provided
humanitarian assistance and economic development worldwide for more than 40 years.
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