UN envoy says recent bombings highlight need for peace deal

United Nations Special Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Eric Vraalsen said on Thursday recent bombings in southern Sudan had highlighted the need for a negotiated peace settlement to the long-running conflict and called on all parties to redouble their efforts to that end. “Any act of war which causes injury or loss of life to innocent civilians, which leads to people having to move away from where they live, losing their livelihoods, leading to internally-displaced people, causing damage to property and so on, is totally unacceptable, and it must stop,” he told IRIN. Vraalsen, who is in the region for talks with the Kenyan and Sudan governments, NGOs and other humanitarian officials from Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), stressed the UN condemned “all acts of war” in Sudan, including recent bombings raids by the government on the towns of Ikotos and Paluer in eastern Equatoria and counter-attacks by Sudanese rebels. “I would use this opportunity to urge the parties to the conflict to really to redouble their efforts to seek a political solution to the conflict. In so doing the establishment of a comprehensive, negotiated ceasefire which will make it possible for OLS to work all over the country in peaceful conditions, should be very high on the agenda,” Vraalsen added. The visit followed a brief suspension of OLS flights from 8-16 August following the bombings in which the property of some humanitarian organisations was damaged. Vraalsen, said he had reaffirmed to officials in Khartoum the UN’s commitment to deliver relief through OLS “to those in need” and ensure that this was done in terms of previous agreements and under humanitarian guidelines through “impartiality, transparency and accountability”. The envoy, who described OLS as being “in very good shape”, also spoke at length on issues ranging from other conflict areas in Sudan to the plight of an estimated 450,000 Eritrean refugees camped in eastern Sudan. [The full IRIN interview will be published shortly].