Secretary of State Hints: RSF Hindering Humanitarian Aid Access to Darfur

New York – Sudanhorizon
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has implicitly acknowledged that the rebel Rapid Support Forces militias are preventing humanitarian aid from reaching civilians in Al Fasher, though he avoided explicitly naming them.
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on the “Good Morning America” program, Rubio stated that his country has not blocked the delivery of humanitarian aid to those in need, but that some parties to the conflict in Sudan are using aid as a weapon of war.
Rubio’s statement on the ABC morning television program came concurrently with a UN statement confirming that the Rapid Support Forces had denied access for humanitarian aid to those in need in Darfur, particularly in Fasher.
Rubio added that some warring parties are looting and seizing this aid, and one of the reasons why aid doesn’t reach some areas is not because the United States has reduced its aid, but because of the ongoing conflict there, so the aid cannot reach the civilian population.
The US Secretary of State cited the situation in Sudan as an example, saying in Sudan, for example, it’s not just a humanitarian crisis, it’s a war zone. Aid is stolen and blocked. They use aid as a weapon against the population, so blocking aid is a tactic of war. In some of these areas, the reason why aid doesn’t reach people is because it cannot be distributed, according to the transcript of the interview published by the US State Department on Tuesday.
Although the US Secretary of State refrained from naming the party hindering humanitarian aid access, UN representative in Sudan, Denise Brown, in an interview with Sudan Tribune published on Monday, placed full responsibility for this situation on the paramilitary groups – the Rapid Support Forces.
She said the UN Secretary-General has been calling for a ceasefire and for humanitarian organizations to be allowed access to areas in need for the past six weeks. She added that the Sudanese Armed Forces agreed, but the paramilitary forces did not, and that is the difficulty we are facing now.
Brown warned that without security guarantees, it would be very difficult for humanitarian workers to reach the affected areas, noting that some had been killed during the conflict.
“I am afraid there is no good news regarding Fasher, and that is a major problem for us,” she added. While access to Fasher remains blocked, Brown pointed to a positive development on the eastern border, where aid trucks from Chad are crossing the Adré border post without any hindrance. She described this as “a major boost to our operation here, in delivering these supplies.” Speaking ten days after arriving in Sudan, Brown emphasized the need for a strategic shift from providing direct aid to individuals to repairing the country’s broken systems. Brown linked the outbreaks of devastating epidemics, such as cholera, dengue fever, and typhoid, directly to the collapse of the water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure. “We must, as much as possible, move away from direct humanitarian work, which focuses on helping individuals and their families, and move towards fixing the underlying systems. Otherwise, people will continue to die from these diseases,” said Brown. To facilitate this, the UN has proposed sending a technical team to work directly with Sudanese ministries in Khartoum to identify and address priorities collaboratively.

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