Sudan agrees to allow aid in rebel-held border areas
Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:05pm GMT
* Hundreds of thousands fled fighting since last year
* U.S., rebels have warned of impending famine
* Sudan accuses Juba of supporting rebels
ADDIS ABABA/KHARTOUM, June 30 (Reuters) - Sudan has agreed to allow
humanitarian aid to civilians in rebel-controlled areas of two war-torn
border states where aid groups have warned of an impending famine, the
African Union and Sudanese state media said on Saturday.
Fighting in South Kordofan and Blue Nile has forced hundreds of thousands of
people to flee their homes since last year, the United Nations and aid
groups say.
The clashes broke out between government forces and rebels of the Sudan
People's Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) around the time South Sudan
declared independence last year.
Aid groups and the United States and have said the fighting has reduced the
usual harvests in the two states, which could face massive food shortages as
stocks dwindle.
The African Union, United Nations and the Arab League proposed a plan
earlier this year to secure the delivery of aid to both states, but Sudan
had rejected the proposal, saying it had the humanitarian situation under
control.
On Saturday, the state-linked Sudanese Media Centre reported the government
had accepted the proposal in order to "relieve the distressed conditions in
which citizens live in the areas under SPLM-N control".
The African Union welcomed the deal in a statement and said it was willing
to contribute monitors and other personnel and urged "all those responsible
to ensure that it is effectively and fully implemented without further
delay".
The conflict in the two states is rooted in decades of north-south civil war
in Sudan. The civil war ended with a 2005 peace deal that paved the way for
South Sudan to declare independence last July.
But partition left tens of thousands of fighters who had battled against
Khartoum north of the border.
The rebels in South Kordofan and Blue Nile say they are fighting to
overthrow Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and end what they see as
the marginalisation of minority groups.
Khartoum accuses the rebels of trying to sow chaos on behalf of their former
comrades in Juba - an allegation South Sudan denies, but which has hindered
talks between the two countries on unresolved issues related to the
partition.
Malik Agar, head of the rebel umbrella Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) which
includes the insurgents in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, told Reuters this
month dozens of people were dying each day due to lack of food and medicine.
Sudan's acceptance comes two days after it adjourned peace talks with South
Sudan until July 5. (Reporting by Aaron Maasho and Alexander Dziadosz;
Editing by Alison Williams)
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
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Received on Sat Jun 30 2012 - 15:21:53 EDT
