Without political and development solutions, humanitarian needs continue to grow in Sudan
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that just last week the first humanitarian convoy since the start of the conflict in Sudan arrived in the state of East Darfur after nine days en route.
The shipment includes 430 tonnes of agricultural seeds provided by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which the Ministry of Agriculture will distribute to farmers across the state. A failed agricultural season would have devastating consequences for all communities in Darfur.
The UN agencies stressed that greater humanitarian access is urgently needed so that all agricultural areas of Darfur can benefit from seed supplies and urged the warring parties to provide farmers with access to agricultural land, ensuring their protection while planting and harvesting their crops.
Stop the war!
The head of OCHA's Operations Division, Edem Wosornu, explained that in Sudan, people are dying and suffering.
After visiting Port Sudan, she noted that the people there are civil servants who need their salaries to be able to assist the displaced people from Kordofan who arrived and are now with them.
The Sudanese "just want peace. My message to the sides is the same message I got from the Sudanese people: Stop the war. Stop the fighting and let us go back to our homes and live our lives," she said.
In an interview with UN News, Wosornu explained that, from a humanitarian point of view, relief agencies must provide aid.
"Children are dying. Mothers are dying on the move. I saw first-hand mothers who had come across the border to Adré. I was also in Chad and saw a mother whose child was thirsty from the arduous journey she had made, crossing from one checkpoint to the next from her village in Darfur," she recounted.
She insisted that the people of Sudan "just want to get back to their daily lives. That's my message to the sides.
We stay and we deliver, but it is not the remedy
On the role of the UN, she said the UN has a mantra which is to stay and deliver, at least on the humanitarian side.
"When something happens, we stay and deliver. We stayed and delivered in Sudan in the midst of a very difficult situation. We are going to stay and deliver in Niger in the midst of a very difficult situation," she said.
However, she warned that "there is no humanitarian solution to any humanitarian crisis. Humanitarians intervene because other things haven't worked, whether it's political solutions that haven't worked or development that hasn't worked. And then there is a humanitarian impact.
Wosornu emphasised that despite the hard work of assisting vulnerable and needy people, "without political and development solutions, humanitarian needs continue to grow".
She also stressed that aid programmes are severely underfunded and called for more resources and support to continue saving lives.