USAID seeks security for aid convoys to war-torn area of Sudan
KHARTOUM, Oct 27 (AFP) — The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has asked the Sudanese government to provide security for its aid convoys to Sudan’s war-torn western region of Darfur.
“We have asked the Sudanese government to help us with security and access, ” USAID administrator, Andrew Natsios told a news conference held at the US embassy here on Sunday.
“We cannot provide humanitarian relief to the displaced people in Darfur unless there is security for our convoys, our workers and our commodities.”
“We are concerned about the fighting in Darfur and despite a ceasefire which is not in force in some areas, more people are killed and around 600, 000, according to United Nations agencies, are internally displaced,” he added.
He said nine truck drivers, all Sudanese, were killed in an attack two weeks ago on a World Food Programme (WFP) convoy in the area.
“None of the workers killed were relief workers,” a USAID spokesperson in Washington, Ellen Yount, told AFP. “Those killed were private commercial transporters” in the 10-truck convoy, while “the WFP trucks made it safely”.
The conflict between the government and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) in Darfur, a semi-desert region bordering Chad, has left some 3,000 dead so far this year, according to UN estimates.
The rebels complain that the central government has neglected the economic needs of the region, which is home to several indigenous minorities.
Natsios said he planned a two-day tour in Darfur to see how his agency could contribute assistance, before heading to a southern region held by the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).
He said would then travel to Kenya to “discuss with the negotiators the post-peace agreement plans” between Khartoum and the SPLA.
Kenya is hosting the talks between the Sudanese government and the SPLA. The negotiations adjourned Sunday for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and are to resume on November 30.
Natsios said in the fiscal year that ended last September 30, USAID spent about 160 million dollars on aid to Sudan, and had earmarked more than 200 million dollars for the current year.
He said Sudan could expect a further increase next fiscal year if there is a peace agreement.
About 1.5 million people have been killed in the 20-year civil war between the government and the SPLA, and more than four million have been displaced.
Under a preliminary agreement reached last year, the SPLA and the government agreed on a six-year transitional period for the south at the end of which the mostly animist and Christian region would vote for unity or secession from the mainly Muslim Arab north.