CIAO DATE: 08/04

Sudan – Complex Emergency: Situation Report #4

Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA)

Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA)
June 2004

United States Agency for International Development

Abstract

For more than 20 years, Sudan has been adversely impacted by armed conflict, famine, and disease, largely associated with the civil war between the Government of Sudan (GOS) and the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). Since war began in 1983, more than 2 million people have died, approximately 628,000 Sudanese have sought refuge in neighboring countries, and more than 4 million people have been displaced, creating the largest internally displaced person (IDP) population in the world. Until April 2003, when violence increased dramatically in western Sudan, conflict had mainly affected southern Sudan and the transition zone between North and South. In 1989, the United Nations (U.N.) established Operation Lifeline Sudan, a tripartite access agreement among the GOS, the SPLM/A, and the U.N. Under this framework, U.N. agencies and non–governmental organizations (NGOs) provide humanitarian and rehabilitation assistance to vulnerable southern Sudanese. Since 1983, the U.S. Government (USG) has provided more than $1.9 billion in humanitarian assistance to Sudan.

Since 2001, through President George W. Bush’s appointment of USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios as Special Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan and former U.S. Senator John Danforth as Special Envoy for Peace to Sudan, the USG has been at the forefront of serious and sustained international engagement with the GOS and SPLM/A to increase humanitarian access to war–affected areas and to support the peace process. By the end of 2002, USG involvement led to a formal ceasefire agreement for the Nuba Mountains area, a framework for the cessation of attacks against civilians, the establishment of periods of tranquility for special humanitarian programs, and an international inquiry on slavery in Sudan. In addition, U.S. involvement helped to establish a favorable environment for peace talks under the auspices of the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The IGAD–sponsored peace talks in Machakos, Kenya, produced the Machakos Protocol, which was signed by the GOS and SPLM/A on July 20, 2002, and established an overall framework for peace. On June 5, First Vice President Ali Osman Taha and SPLM Leader John Garang signed the Nairobi Declaration, an agreement linking the six protocols negotiated between July 20, 2003, and May 26, 2004. The final round of talks addressing security arrangements and implementation modalities will begin on June 22.

Although the recent progress on the North-South peace process brings hope for an end to Africa’s longest civil war, a new humanitarian crisis has emerged in western Sudan. The security situation in the three states of Darfur has steadily deteriorated since the Darfur–based Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) attacked GOS security forces at Al Fasher in April 2003. Fighting between two main opposition groups—the SLM/A and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)—and the GOS military and militia groups supported by the GOS has intensified, while inadequate humanitarian access and systematic violence against civilian populations in Darfur by the government–backed militias, predominantly the Jingaweit, have caused one of the world’s most desperate humanitarian situations. Out of an estimated population of 6.5 million in Darfur, approximately 2.2 million people are affected by the crisis, including more than 1 million IDPs and approximately 158,000 refugees who have fled into neighboring Chad.

Full Text (PDF, 7 pgs, 225.6 Kbs)