Background
Civil war between the Government of the Sudan and southern Sudanese opposition movements has continued unabated for fourteen years. Fighting intensified between Government forces and the principal opposition movement, the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), throughout 1996. In mid-1996, groups opposed to the Government of Uganda also increased attacks on Sudanese refugee and humanitarian workers in camps in northern Uganda and on humanitarian convoys serving internally displaced persons (IDPs) in areas of southern Sudan close to the Ugandan border. A series of major military offensives in late 1996 and early 1997 on several fronts in eastern and southern Sudan generated flows of more than 100,000 newly displaced persons in these areas.
On the political front, peace initiatives undertaken since 1993 by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) came to a standstill in 1995 because of deteriorating diplomatic relations between Eritrea, Ethiopia and Uganda, on the one hand, and the Government of the Sudan, on the other. In January 1996, the Security Council adopted resolution 1044 (1996) upon the complaint of the Government of Ethiopia relating to the Sudanese Government's alleged involvement in the June 1995 assassination attempt against President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. Further political developments, following Security Council resolutions asking the Sudan to comply with its requests for the extradition of the suspects involved in the assassination attempt and a cessation of alleged Sudanese Government support for international terrorist groups, have dimmed prospects for resuming dialogue among IGAD member States. ( See box on Assessing the humanitarian impact of sanctions on the Sudan )
Humanitarian needs
More than a million persons are estimated to have died in Sudan's civil war, and as many as four million Sudanese have been displaced or have sought refuge abroad. In 1996, war-affected persons throughout the country, already living below subsistence levels, struggled to cope with the effects of chronic malnutrition and an alarming increase in the spread of infectious diseases such as AIDS, kala-azar, cholera and severe diarrhoeal diseases. The Government's own efforts to provide humanitarian assistance were compromised by the rapid deterioration of the economy in 1996 and the resulting loss of foreign exchange and purchasing power on the local market.
International humanitarian relief efforts were also severely hampered by intensified fighting and the unwillingness of the warring parties to provide reliable access to persons in need. The Government of the Sudan imposed several restrictions on Operation Lifeline Sudan which included:
In mid-1996, following the refusal of the Government of the Sudan to provide clearance for humanitarian flights into rebel-held areas of the southern Sudan, over 1,800 persons died from cholera and diarrhoeal diseases, and deliveries of WFP food commodities from Lokichokio, in northern Kenya, were reduced by 80 per cent.
In retaliation against the Government's refusal to grant access for relief activities in rebel-held areas, rebel factions also began denying access to certain Government-controlled areas of southern and central Sudan. This further constrained the ability of humanitarian agencies to meet the needs of vulnerable populations.
In addition to reduced access, threats against humanitarian workers also increased in 1996. More than 60 evacuations were undertaken, involving approximately 240 relief personnel in 35 separate locations in southern Sudan: up 50 per cent from the number of evacuated staff in 1995. Relief workers also reported five hostage-takings and 37 separate bombing incidents in areas inhabited by civilian populations.
The intensified hostilities blocked attempts by Mr. Vieri Traxler, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs for the Sudan, to restart negotiations with the parties on improving humanitarian access. A realignment among rebel movements took place after one major group signed a Political Charter with the Government in April 1996; this further complicated the task of identifying legitimate interlocutors for a resumption of these talks. Fresh efforts to resume negotiations will be made when Mr. Robert van Schaik, who was appointed in April 1997 to succeed Mr. Traxler, visits the region.
Humanitarian response
The United Nations established Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) in April 1989 to avert mass starvation of civilians displaced or otherwise affected by the armed conflict in southern Sudan. Since that time, OLS has evolved from a short-term relief operation to a wide-ranging emergency humanitarian relief effort. OLS works with all parties to the conflict in Government-controlled and rebel-controlled areas to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance both within and from outside the country. OLS was one of the first United Nations mechanisms for humanitarian coordination that sought to assist IDPs and war-affected civilians in an ongoing conflict within a sovereign country, as opposed to assisting refugees beyond its borders. As such, OLS has been an important model for humanitarian coordination missions in other countries impacted by civil conflict.
Overall authority for OLS activities within the Sudan is vested in the United Nations Coordinator for Emergency and Relief Operations (UNCERO), based in Khartoum. He is supported by a field coordination unit, which also functions as the focal point for coordinating humanitarian activities carried out in the OLS Northern Sector by the six United Nations humanitarian organizations which participate in the annual United Nations CAP for the Sudan - FAO, UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP and WHO - and over fifty international NGOs based in Khartoum. (See map IV, page 53.)
In 1989, when rebel control extended over most of southern Sudan, the parties to the conflict agreed to the establishment of an OLS Southern Sector coordination office in Nairobi and an OLS operational base in Lokichokio, northern Kenya. OLS activities in the Southern Sector cover both Government and rebel-held areas in southern Sudan and are supervised by an OLS coordinator based in Nairobi, who functions under the overall authority of UNCERO. Whereas the working relationship between United Nations agencies and NGOs based in Khartoum remains somewhat ad hoc, in the Southern Sector over 30 international NGOs have signed letters of understanding with the OLS Nairobi office, creating a veritable consortium of United Nations and NGO relief programmes on behalf of OLS.
Since the fighting intensified in late 1995 in southern Sudan, lack of security, denial of access to vulnerable areas and logistical difficulties have all seriously limited the delivery of humanitarian relief. In 1996 OLS delivered 50,000 tonnes of food relief. Of this amount, 29,000 tonnes were allocated to Government-controlled areas throughout the country and 22,000 tonnes to areas controlled by the rebel movements. OLS also delivered by air more than 3,000 tonnes of non-food supplies to areas accessible from Lokichokio, Kenya, and continued to support programmes in the fields of health, household food security, livestock, water and sanitation, emergency education, war-affected children and capacity-building. While in absolute terms, these delivery figures were close to the goals set at the outset of the year, Government restrictions on OLS activities in the south resulted in considerable delays in reaching affected populations, particularly from April to September, the season of most acute food shortages.
Since 1992, successive CAPs for the Sudan have raised US$ 597 million. In 1995 and 1996, funding declined considerably; between 1992 and 1994, United Nations agencies raised an average of 75 per cent of their funding requirements, while in 1995 and 1996, international donors covered no more than 51 per cent of the already reduced requirements. ( See figures 31 and 32 ) As of early April 1997, the current appeal has raised only about 5 per cent of its required funding.
Given continuing problems of humanitarian access, lack of security and limited funding, in late 1995, the IASC agreed to commission a team of international experts to undertake the first comprehensive review of OLS. ( See box on Plan of action implementing the OLS Review ) In September 1996, DHA convened separate meetings to discuss the final conclusions of the OLS Review with representatives of the Government of the Sudan, the three southern movements which participate in OLS, donor governments and international relief organizations.
Based on the Review's findings, the humanitarian agencies will work to improve the delivery of assistance in the Sudan by negotiating with the parties to obtain the following:
It remains to be seen if OLS will be able to fully achieve its goals, given the increasing restrictions on humanitarian deliveries in recent years and the concomitant decline in donor support. Unless OLS can increase its effectiveness, the severe curtailment of humanitarian activities which occurred in the Sudan in 1996 could well continue.