UN staff evacuated from garrison town

The United Nations and other aid agencies have evacuated personnel from the Sudanese government garrison town of Wau in Bahr al-Ghazal due to an expected advance on the town by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). Spokeswoman for the World Food Programme (WFP) Brenda Barton told IRIN that, following a security assessment, 24 national and international UN staff had left the town in a two-phase evacuation process ending on 14 June. Barton added that there were still some UN staff in the town, and that the WFP office was still functioning, ensuring that feeding centres were still open. WFP had distributed food to 40,000 internally displaced people in the town during May, and would need to make another distribution in two to three weeks’ time, she added.

AFP quoted armed forces spokesman General Muhammad Bashir Sulayman as saying the evacuation of international aid organisations from the town was evidence of their support for the rebel group. “This evacuation calls for reconsideration of the activities of the international organisations,” he was quoted as saying. Sulayman denied claims by the SPLA that it was advancing on Wau: “[SPLA leader John] Garang’s forces are far away from Wau and will never reach it,” he said. During a visit to the town on Monday, Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir vowed to rid the area of the rebel SPLA. “The battle for purging Bahr al-Ghazal of the rebellion has already begun,” official news agency Suna quoted him as saying.