Annan stresses need for full humanitarian access

Millions of people in Sudan are in a precarious humanitarian position, and the situation requires "unrestricted access by aid workers in order to save lives", UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated in a report released on Tuesday. The UN's Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) and its humanitarian partners on the ground continued to operate under particularly difficult circumstances, which included inadequate access to vulnerable populations, growing insecurity and ongoing displacement of civilians, Annan stated in his annual report on Sudan to the UN General Assembly. Relief efforts in Sudan continue to be implemented against the backdrop of the long-standing civil war between the government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), as well as fighting within and between other military forces and militias. "It is paramount to ensure the respect by all signatories of the Operation Lifeline Sudan agreements for unrestricted humanitarian access," Annan stated in Tuesday's report, stressing the need for the government and SPLM/A to fulfil agreements with the UN on conditions for the provision of relief aid. "Given the limited humanitarian access and volatile security conditions - especially in southern Sudan - all efforts must be continued to implement these accords fully," he added. The enduring phenomenon of internal displacement in Sudan, both for war-related reasons and due to drought and floods, "continues to pose a formidable challenge", according to the report. Military activities in recent months - particularly in the Nuba (Nubah) Mountains and in Western Bahr al-Ghazal State - had displaced tens of thousands of civilians, and there had also been considerable displacement as a result of endemic conflict in Wahdah (Unity) State/western Upper Nile localities in the south, it said. In addition, many parts of the country (including the Darfur and Kordofan regions in the west, the Red Sea Hills in the east, Bahr al-Ghazal in the southwest, and Eastern Equatoria in the south) have suffered and continue to suffer from the effects of prolonged drought and occasional floods. Estimates of the newly displaced in the last two years were in excess of 100,000 people, far exceeding some 25,000 spontaneous returns, the report stated. The deterioration of environmental and security conditions had increased the prospect of malnutrition and vulnerability towards the end of this year, Annan said, noting that "humanitarian assistance is at best slowing the overall deterioration of the situation". Sudan remained "one of the most dangerous operating environments for relief workers", and it remained "of the utmost concern" to the UN that in none of the most serious cases affecting their security had anybody responsible been brought to justice, he added. Humanitarian access, safety and protection of civilians, adequate resources and guaranteed security for humanitarian workers remained the core conditions for the UN's aid programme, according to Tuesday's report. Only a negotiated and lasting peace settlement between the warring parties in Sudan, supported by local and regional actors and the international community as a whole, could provide the fundamental solution to the country's humanitarian crisis, it said. "Short of a peace settlement, and for the sake of the civilian population, the parties to the conflict must work at reinstating humanitarian cease-fires," according to Annan. "It is especially important for the humanitarian action in critical areas of southern Sudan to benefit from an extension of the humanitarian space and to operate with minimal security guarantees," he added.