NGOs urge move towards "just and sustainable" peace

Increased commitment to addressing the long-running Sudanese conflict is encouraging but the humanitarian crisis affecting most people in the south of the country remains intolerable, according to a report released on Friday by a group of nongovernmental organisations active in the country.

Compiled jointly by CARE International, Tearfund, Christian Aid, Oxfam and Save the Children, it argues that the vast majority of Sudanese people are exhausted by the civil war and disappointed by the lack of progress towards a broad peace - notwithstanding gains in implementing four confidence-building measures proposed by US peace envoy John Danforth.

"This is a critical time for all concerned governments, agencies and warring parties to work in concert to bring about a just and sustainable peace in Sudan," according to the report, entitled The Key to Peace: Unlocking the human potential of Sudan.

"The war has exacted a terrible and poorly communicated human cost, and it must end - now," the report added.

In it, the NGOs revealed the human cost of the Sudanese conflict and outlined measures needed to curb the humanitarian crisis while also steering the country towards long-term development and investment.

Its launch on Friday (12 April) coincided with the end of a fact-finding mission to Sudan by four British MPs, who urged the international community to exert pressure on the warring parties to make commitments to ending the civil war, which has lasted 19 years in its latest phase.
[see http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27266]

The civil war in Sudan has directly resulted in the deaths of at least two million people and caused the largest displacement of people in Africa, estimated at four million, according to the report. It has also eroded health, education and other vital services throughout the country - but especially in the south, it stated.

Moreover, the agencies said, the war had heightened people's vulnerability to famine, eroded their already fragile coping strategies and destroyed vital assets and livelihoods, such that an estimated 92 percent of Sudanese were living below the poverty line.

"Warring parties have targeted civilians, uncontrolled militia groups wreak destruction on property and livelihoods, exacting a terrible human cost," the report stated. "The activities of unaccountable paramilitaries appear to continue unabated. Militia attack, rape and abduct civilians, creating fear, distress and increased displacement. Large areas of southern Sudan, especially Bahr al-Ghazal, have been devastated by militia activity."

However, the NGOs welcomed the renewed international interest in the Sudanese conflict following Danforth's appointment in September 2001, and subsequent contributions towards the aim of ending the war - notably from Britain, which had also appointed a peace envoy; Norway, which had contributed monitors to oversee a US- and Swiss-brokered ceasefire in the Nuba Mountains region; and the Kenyan government, which had named a special envoy to support regional peace efforts.

"The Sudanese people are also finding new ways to build bridges between communities, and have engaged in local reconciliation efforts that are bringing real dividends," they said.

There was vast potential for development in Sudan, according to the report. If encouraged by a durable peace, it could allow for the revival of the country's economy and make funds available for poverty eradication, and for other vital sectors such as education and health, it stated.

The report outlined ways by which Sudan's vast natural resources could be exploited in the interests of its people, urging donors to establish "more sustained" programmes while "simultaneously expanding the space for confidence building and conflict transformation".

"Donors are encouraged to ensure more 'joined-up' cross-government approaches to relief, rehabilitation and development based on a comprehensive analysis of the central issues facing Sudan," the report said.

"We urge donors now to review their earlier policies and engage with existing opportunities," it added.