Khartoum bans relief flights

The Sudanese government on Thursday banned UN relief flights over two huge regions of southern Sudan, effectively cutting off air access from Kenya to the south. Martin Dawes, spokesman for the UN-led Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) told IRIN the ban meant there were now no OLS flights leaving the logistics base at Lokichoggio, northern Kenya, raising concerns for the welfare of up to three million people in the war-ravaged south. "This is extremely serious for the operation, for the beneficiaries, for aid workers, and for the basis of OLS," Dawes said. The access denial covers all flights over the far south regions of Eastern Equatoria and Western Equatoria for a nine day period, and has prompted speculation that government forces were about to launch a major offensive against the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). Dawes said there was added concern for the safety of some 600 aid workers currently in southern Sudan, and that "all options were being considered" for the future safety of personnel stranded in Eastern Equatoria. The ban has raised fears that government forces could be planning to advance out of the main garrison town of Juba, a move which would represent a serious escalation of fighting in the area and a further deterioration on the humanitarian situation on the ground, humanitarian sources told IRIN. The government was "desperate" to make military gains following the rebel capture of the strategic town of Torit, Eastern Equatoria, on 1 September, sources said. The day after the fall of Torit government negotiators pulled out of peace talks being held in Kenya, saying the SPLM/A had "spoiled the atmosphere" of the talks and was "not willing to negotiate in good faith." The SPLM/A has recently accused Khartoum of intensifying offensives across the south, and of continuing to conduct air raids against civilian targets, including the bombing on Monday of the town of Yei in Eastern Equatoria. The Sudanese government has, on several occasions since March, increased the number of flight denied locations, putting it at loggerheads with aid agencies over the crucial issue of access to conflict-affected populations. The governments of the US, UK and Norway - an informal troika of countries working on peace and humanitarian issues in Sudan - should lend their full support to the UN in demanding unfettered access, humanitarian sources argued. "The UN has the mandate to negotiate access at the highest level. We would like to see the troika come in behind the UN to help it exercise that mandate," they stressed. Freedom of access to vulnerable populations - an international humanitarian principle - is guaranteed under a beneficiary protocol of OLS, which established principles for the protection and provision of aid to war-affected populations in Sudan.