Darfur group launches week-long campaign for humanitarian access

February 10, 2024 (EL FASHER) – Describing the humanitarian situation in Darfur as “catastrophic,” the Sudan Liberation Movement – Transitional Council (SLM-TC) announced a week-long campaign to open humanitarian corridors and facilitate aid delivery.

Following an SLM-TC leadership meeting in El-Fasher headed by Al-Hadi Idris, the Movement declared Darfur a “disaster area”. It urged all parties, including the Sudanese Army Rapid Support Forces(RSF) and Darfur armed groups, to cooperate in ensuring safe passage for relief supplies.

Idris, who is also the Sudanese Revolutionary Forces leader, emphasized the urgency, warning of “a major disaster and the loss of thousands of victims due to hunger” if the situation persists. He appealed to humanitarian organizations, particularly the United Nations, to join the campaign and deliver food supplies.

His call echoes the UN’s recent $4.1 billion appeal for Sudan, where half the population, including 1.5 million refugees, requires assistance.

Idris also called for a ban on military flights in Darfur, citing the “indiscriminate bombing” by the Sudanese army that has deterred many organizations from operating in the region.

He stressed the need for armed movements’ neutrality and security coordination to protect aid workers and ensure safe passage for convoys through key routes.

On November 16, 2023, the SLM led by Minni Minawi, the Justice and Equality Movement headed by Gibril Ibrahim, and the SLM of Mustafa Tambour declared their support to the army and denounced the region’s RSF control of four states.

The abandonment of neutrality by these groups ended the escort of commercial and humanitarian convoys to western Sudan by the joint force of Darfur armed groups. The RSF said they would no longer allow these convoys to access the region, considering that the three are military targets.

(ST)