ALBAWABA - Aid workers in the war-torn region of Darfur condemned the efforts by army-backed militias to block the entry of aid convoys to the area leading to exacerbating the already deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sudan.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), approximately 694,000 people have fled to Chad, but many more are still stuck in Darfur and require assistance.
The United Nations has had to restrict its work in Darfur to cross-border operations from Chad, but this week the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) country director Eddie Rowe told reporters that "authorities have restricted the Chad cross-border operation".
On Friday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated that the US is gravely concerned about the army's "recent decision to prohibit cross-border humanitarian assistance from Chad and reports that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) is obstructing assistance from reaching communities in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)".
Sudan's army-backed foreign ministry expressed "confusion and rejection" of Washington's "false accusations". According to the ministry, the Sudan-Chad border "is the main crossing point for weapons and equipment" used to commit "atrocities" against Sudanese citizens.
Miller of the State Department was especially concerned about RSF "looting homes, markets, and humanitarian assistance warehouses".
Darfur region, which borders Chad, has been one of Sudan's most devastated areas since the Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) went to war 10 months ago.
The RSF has gained control of four of the five Darfur state capitals as part of their ongoing struggle against the army, which began in April.
Eddie Rowe, the UN's acting Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, and World Food Programme Country Director, said that WFP was "engaging with the authorities to ensure this critical lifeline" from Chad to remain open.
It is essential, an international aid worker told AFP on Sunday from Darfur, requesting anonymity so as not to jeopardize their mission.
"Children and babies are already dying from hunger and malnutrition. There will be an immense human impact... and quite possibly large-scale mortality rates," the aid worker said.
"The highest levels of diplomacy need to unblock this situation immediately because millions of lives hang in the balance," the aid worker said, calling it "a huge region already facing an imminent and immense food security crisis on top of a civil war, ethnic violence, and state service collapse".
