SPLM-N’s Agar declares Blue Nile area of natural disaster
September 7, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North led by Malik Agar (SPLM-N Agar) declared the Blue Nile State a natural disaster area and called for international support for the flood-affected people.
At least 78 people have been killed in the past two weeks from flash floods after the worst rains in the country in at least a decade.
The torrential rains hit 16 out of 18 states in Sudan, resulting. The Blue Nile is one of the most affected areas in the country.
“The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North declares the Blue Nile region a natural disaster area due to the floods and rains which have struck the area and devastating its population and that the disaster has worsened these days,” said Mailk Agar in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Saturday.
The rebel group which fight the government forces in the Blue Nile State called upon all Sudanese, regional and international aid groups to expedite the provision of relief aid and humanitarian assistance to save the affected population especially the children, women and the elderly.
Agar said that over two hundred thousand people suffer from lack basic needs of food, medicine, shelter, clothing, communication interruptions and paralysis of movement, as a result of severe flooding.
The SPLM-N Agar has declared a unilateral cessation of hostilities for nearly three years but failed to strike a peace deal with the former regime.
So far an estimated 346,300 people have been affected by these floods, with more than 41,000 homes destroyed and almost 28,000 damaged across the country, according to the United Nations.
(ST)