Khartoum expresses “grave concern” over attacks on relief workers

The Sudanese envoy to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Omar Bashir Manis, on 13 July said, during a debate on emergency humanitarian assistance, that Sudan had “grave concern about attacks on humanitarian workers”, most of which “were carried out by rebel movements and non-government parties”. It was regrettable that failure to end such crimes had encouraged the groups perpetrating them to persist in doing so, he said. “What was needed”, according to Manis, “was a commitment to identify the aggressors, and to identify them in public, so that they could be tried as war criminals”. UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima said the security of humanitarian workers had to be given attention, and that he hoped a forthcoming debate within the General Assembly would result in an enhanced staff-protection system.

Manis stated that emergency humanitarian interventions should respect the principle of sovereignty of states, and expressed regret that this year’s ECOSOC meetings had not come up with agreed conclusions on humanitarian action. He also argued that sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council often gave rise to negative economic and social repercussions on “innocent bystanders”, and that the sanctions should be reconsidered. Manis said Sudan appreciated UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s suggestions on moving from response and reaction to prevention when dealing with natural disaster, saying he was convinced that prevention could lead to long-term development.