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UN Warns of 'Catastrophic' Imminent Escalation in Sudan
Warring factions in North Darfur state must "avoid locating military installations within or near densely populated areas, including towns and camps for internally displaced people," said one U.N. official.
Apr 26, 2024
The United Nations' top humanitarian affairs officials on Friday called for an immediate deescalation of hostilities in Sudan, where rival factions in the military government have been fighting for a year and where an attack on the city of El Fasher is reportedly imminent.
About 800,000 people in the city, the capital of North Darfur state, are in "extreme and immediate danger," U.N. aid operations director, Edem Wosornu, told the U.N. Security Council earlier this week, as she reported that clashes between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group, and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are nearing El Fasher.
Fighting between the two groups has intensified in recent weeks, forcibly displacing an estimated 40,000 people.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday that the security situation in North Darfur has left more than a dozen aid trucks with relief supplies for 122,000 people stranded in neighboring Northern state, unable to proceed into the only capital city in Darfur that is not controlled by RSF.
"A patchwork of armed actors, including the Darfur Joint Protection Forces, the SAF, and the RSF control different parts of the El Fasher area," Human Rights Watch reported this week. "Tense calm alternating with episodic fighting has prevailed for months."
Since April 14, when RSF began to push into El Fasher, at least 43 people—including women and children—have been killed due to fighting between the SAF and RSF.
"Civilians are trapped in the city, afraid of being killed should they attempt to flee," said Seif Magango, spokesperson for the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk. "This dire situation is compounded by a severe shortage of essential supplies as deliveries of commercial goods and humanitarian aid have been heavily constrained by the fighting, and delivery trucks are unable to freely transit through RSF-controlled territory."
The lack of humanitarian aid in North Darfur has pushed the state toward a famine, with one child dying of starvation every two hours, according to a February report by Doctors Without Borders.
In December, the U.S. State Department announced an $85 million sale of radar and other military equipment to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which The New York Times reported last year has been covertly supporting the RSF.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) proposed a joint resolution to block arms sales to the UAE in January, in light of its support for the paramilitary group.
Omar was among several lawmakers who wrote to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this week, urging them to "deliver urgently-needed humanitarian assistance" and to help end the hostilities.
Sudanese-Australian writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied urged Americans on Friday to pressure lawmakers and the White House to take more action.
"There is a tiny window of opportunity for us to find a way to get the UAE... to make the RSF to stop in their tracks," said Abdel-Magied. "Maybe there's a way that we can avoid this massacre."
OCHA called on the warring parties to "take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations."
"They must, to the extent possible, avoid locating military installations within or near densely populated areas, including towns and camps for internally displaced people," said the office. "It is also imperative that the parties allow safe passage for civilians to leave El Fasher for safer areas."
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Biden Has No Plan to Punish Israel for Rafah Invasion as UN Warns of 'Slaughter'
"More than half of Gaza’s population—well over 1 million people—are crammed in Rafah, staring death in the face," said the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator.
Feb 14, 2024
President Joe Biden and other leading American officials have publicly urged Israel not to invade the overcrowded Gaza city of Rafah without ensuring the protection of civilians, but the administration reportedly has no plan to impose consequences if the Netanyahu government launches the ground assault without heeding U.S. warnings.
Three unnamed U.S. officials toldPolitico's "National Security Daily" newsletter on Tuesday that "no reprimand plans are in the works, meaning Israeli forces could enter the city and harm civilians without facing American consequences."
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote in response to Politico's reporting that "Biden can stop this but chooses not to."
"Instead, he only resorts to calling Netanyahu an 'asshole' behind his back," Parsi added. "This is leadership?"
Around 1.4 million people, most of them displaced from other parts of the Gaza Strip, are currently in Rafah, which is roughly a quarter the size of the U.S. city of Baltimore.
Some are
desperately trying to flee ahead of an Israeli invasion, gathering their few remaining belongings and leaving the city without any clear direction or assurance of safe passage.
"They need to be protected," Biden said of Rafah's civilians following a White House meeting with the king of Jordan on Monday.
But that same day, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said during a press briefing that "we are going to continue to support Israel" after a reporter asked whether Biden has "ever threatened to strip military assistance from Israel if they move ahead with a Rafah operation" that doesn't protect civilians.
"They have a right to defend themselves against Hamas. And we're going to continue to make sure they have the tools and the capabilities to do that," Kirby said, sidestepping growing evidence that U.S. weapons are fueling the Israeli military's war crimes in Gaza.
REPORTER: "Has the President ever threatened to strip military assistance from Israel if they move ahead with a Rafah operation that does not take into consequence what happens with civilians?"
WHITE HOUSE: "We’re going to continue to support Israel."
"They have a right to… pic.twitter.com/tMCVUQ2IZc
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) February 13, 2024
Israel's military has ramped up attacks on Rafah in recent days, killing dozens of Palestinians—including an entire family—in a wave of airstrikes on the besieged city earlier this week. The strikes leveled buildings, wiped out makeshift tents that displaced people have been using for shelter, and killed at least 27 children.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that a ground invasion of Rafah will go ahead despite the Biden administration's pleading and growing protests from the international community. On Tuesday, the South African government implored the International Court of Justice to intervene to prevent an invasion of Rafah, arguing such an assault would violate the legally binding orders the court issued in its interim decision last month.
"We're going to do it," Netanyahu said in an interview that aired over the weekend. "We're going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, which is the last bastion."
Meanwhile, the White House is actively pressuring the U.S. House of Representatives to approve a $95 billion aid package that includes more than $10 billion in offensive military assistance for Israel. The bill passed the Senate Tuesday morning with just three no votes from members of the Democratic caucus, but progressive opposition is likely to be stronger in the House.
"This is not the time for vague generalities about doing more to protect civilian life. We must demand of Netanyahu—STOP," Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) wrote on social media Tuesday, noting that a majority of House Democrats voted against a standalone $17.6 billion aid package for Israel last week.
"The bombing in Rafah that is killing children refugees must end today," Khanna added.
Martin Griffiths, the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator, echoed that message in a statement on Tuesday, warning that "the scenario we have long dreaded is unraveling at alarming speed."
"More than half of Gaza’s population—well over 1 million people—are crammed in Rafah, staring death in the face: They have little to eat, hardly any access to medical care, nowhere to sleep, nowhere safe to go," said Griffiths. "Military operations in Rafah could lead to a slaughter in Gaza. They could also leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death's door."
"We lack the safety guarantees, the aid supplies, and the staff capacity to keep this operation afloat," he continued. "The international community has been warning against the dangerous consequences of any ground invasion in Rafah. The government of Israel cannot continue to ignore these calls. History will not be kind. This war must end."
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In Global Appeal, UNRWA Says Gazans Likely Won't Survive If Agency Abandoned
"If the funding remains suspended, we will most likely be forced to shut down our operations by end of February not only in Gaza but also across the region," warned the agency chief.
Feb 01, 2024
A United Nations humanitarian agency warned Thursday that over a dozen countries that have suspended their financial contributions are risking the "sheer survival" of most people in the Gaza Strip amid Israel's war on the besieged Palestinian enclave.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said in a statement that "the colossal humanitarian needs of over 2 million people in Gaza now face the risk of deepening" due to recent donor suspensions over Israeli allegations that a handful of agency staff members participated in the Hamas-led attacks on October 7.
The number of countries cutting off funding—including the United States—has grown over the past week even though the 30,000-employee agency swiftly fired nine workers and launched an investigation into the the Israeli government's claims.
"The agency remains the largest aid organization in one of the most severe and complex humanitarian crises in the world."
While cease-fire talks are ongoing, Israel's nearly four-month assault on Gaza—condemned as genocide in a South African-led case at the International Court of Justice—continues, with the death toll topping 27,000 on Thursday and thousands more injured or missing in the bombed and burned homes, hospitals, schools, mosques, shelters, and refugee camps.
In response to Israeli orders early in the U.S.-backed war, many Palestinians have fled northern Gaza. Thomas White, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza and U.N. deputy humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, explained Thursday that the agency has had limited access to the people who remain in the north.
"UNRWA received reports that people in the area are grinding bird feed to make flour. We continue to coordinate with the Israeli army to be able to go to the north, but this has been largely denied," he said. "When our convoys are finally permitted to go to the area, people rush to the trucks to get food and often eat it on the spot."
Meanwhile, in southern Gaza, "Rafah has become a sea of people fleeing bombardments," White added.
According to the UNRWA's tally, donor nations have suspended at least $440 million in funding. Philippe Lazzarini, the agency's commissioner-general, declared Thursday that "as the war in Gaza is being pursued unabated, and at the time the International Court of Justice calls for more humanitarian assistance, it is the time to reinforce and not to weaken UNRWA."
"The agency remains the largest aid organization in one of the most severe and complex humanitarian crises in the world," he said. "I echo the call of the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to resume funding to UNRWA. If the funding remains suspended, we will most likely be forced to shut down our operations by end of February not only in Gaza but also across the region."
White warned that "it's difficult to imagine that Gazans will survive this crisis without UNRWA."
The comments from UNRWA leaders echoed remarks from other U.N. officials, humanitarians, global advocacy groups, and even some progressive U.S. politicians over the past week.
"UNRWA's lifesaving services to over three-quarters of Gaza's residents should not be jeopardized by the alleged actions of a few individuals," Martin Griffiths, United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.
"To put very simply and bluntly: Our humanitarian response for the occupied Palestinian territory is completely dependent on UNRWA being adequately funded and operational," he added. "Decisions to withhold funds from UNRWA must be revoked."
Griffiths and 14 other U.N. leaders and humanitarian partners who argued in a Tuesday statement that while the allegations against UNRWA staff "are horrifying" and "any U.N. employee involved in acts of terror will be held accountable," global donors must not prevent the agency from helping the "hundreds of thousands of people homeless and on the brink of famine."
"Withdrawing funds from UNRWA is perilous and would result in the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, with far-reaching humanitarian and human rights consequences in the occupied Palestinian territory and across the region," the coalition said. "The world cannot abandon the people of Gaza."
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