UNITED
NATIONS, June
12 -- For more
than a week,
Inner City
Press has been
asking the UN
if there is
humanitarian
access to Blue
Nile and
Southern
Kordofan
states in
Sudan. On June
4 an answer
was promised.
On June
12, still with
no answer,
Inner City
Press asked it
again,
this time
citing an
Amnesty
International
report on Blue
Nile issued
on June 10.
The
report (online
here)
details
horrendous
conditions in
Blue Nile, and
concludes by
recommending
to the UNMISS
mission and
other UN
agencies
that they
monitor
violations of
humanitarian
law and report
them
to Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon.
After
the second
request to
Ban's
Spokesperson's
Office, that
Office sent
this:
Subject:
Your
question at
the noon
briefing
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not
Reply [at]
un.or
Date: Wed, Jun
12, 2013 at
2:42 PM
To:
Matthew.Le
[at]
innercitypress.com
UN
access to
Government-controlled
parts of Blue
Nile has
improved
significantly
since this
time last
year. In late
May, WFP
reached
84,000 people
with food
assistance and
UNHCR
delivered
emergency
shelter and
non-food items
to 5,000
people. UN
staff had
meetings
with the
authorities
and NGO
partners in
the state
capital,
Ad-Damazin,
last week.
The
UN still does
not have
access to
areas of Blue
Nile
controlled by
the
SPLM-N,
however. The
UN continues
to call for a
cessation of
hostilities so
that a polio
vaccination
campaign can
be carried out
in these areas
from within
Sudan and for
the parties to
return to the
negotiating
table so that
all civilians
affected by
the conflict
can
be reached
with
humanitarian
assistance.
The
rosy picture
of relations
with the
Sudanese
authorities is
at odds,
to say the
least, with
the Amnesty
International
report. There
is no
mention of the
type of
cross-border
the aid that
the same
Office for
the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs is
demanding in
Syria. Why
not? Watch
this site.
, 
