UN calls for end to bomb attacks

The United Nations system on Tuesday condemned Sudanese government bomb attacks on civilian targets in the south of the country. UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima said in a statement he was "deeply concerned" over three separate bombing raids on the village of Mangayath, Western Bahr al-Ghazal, which occurred during the distribution of relief food to internally displaced persons (IDPs). "I deplore in the strongest terms these military attacks on civilians who were gathering in one location to receive humanitarian assistance from the United Nations," Oshima said. As a consequence of the repeated bombings, the UN had been forced to evacuate its humanitarian staff without completing the planned delivery of assistance, Oshima said. The WFP said on Sunday that it had planned to distribute 240 mt of emergency food aid to some 20,000 IDPs in the area. Most had arrived in Mangayath since late September, having fled fighting in rebel-held Raga town. According to WFP, government Antonov aircraft had dropped 15 bombs on Mangayath on 5 October, followed by further attacks on 7 October and 8 October. Oshima said the attacks were carried out despite the food distribution having been cleared well in advance by the Sudanese government, and that the most recent raids occurred despite an official UN protest being filed with Khartoum. "I strongly urge the Government of Sudan to refrain from any further military action targeting civilians", Oshima said. "It is indefensible for any government or rebel movement to carry out military acts whose victims will most probably be civilians and relief workers." United States on Tuesday also called on the Sudanese government to halt the raids, news agencies reported. "Part of our search for a just peace in Sudan includes the profound concern that we've expressed before over this senseless bombing of civilian targets," AFP quoted the US State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, as saying. The recently appointed US Special Envoy to Sudan, John Danforth, would be visiting Sudan next month as part of US efforts to bring an end to the country's 18-year civil war, Boucher said.