SPLM-N proposes involving UNISFA in the children vaccination campaign
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July 13, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement
North (SPLM-N) has proposed to involve the UN Interim Security Force
for Abyei (UNISFA) in a vaccination campaign for children in the rebel
controlled areas.
JPEG - 30.7 kb
Girls sit in front of their shelter in Bram village in the Nuba
Mountains in South Kordofan April 28, 2012. (photo Goran Tomasevic
Reuters)
Since last April UN children (UNICEF) and health (WHO) agencies seek
to reach some 150,000 children under five years in the SPLM-N areas in
Blue Nile and South Kordofan to vaccinate them against Polio and to
give them Vitamin A.
The government said its humanitarian agency should supervise this
operation, but the rebels rejected its involvement and proposed to
organize it from Ethiopia and Kenya with the participation of their
humanitarian personnel.
"The SPLM-N forwarded a new idea to speed up and facilitate the
vaccination campaign by involving UNISFA to carry-out the necessary
arrangements and in particular, ensuring the safety of the United
Nations personnel involved in the vaccination program with the full
cooperation of the parties and providing logistics for them especially
in the SPLM-N areas", said SPLM-N secretary general Yasir Arman in a
statement he email to Sudan Tribune on Saturday.
Arman went further to disclose that following the rocket attack of 14
June on Kadugli airport which hit the base of UNISFA there, they
"established direct contact with UNISFA and coordinated with them to
stop the shelling on Kadugli".
The shelling of UNISFA headquarters impacted negatively the
implementation of security arrangements agreement between the Sudan
and South Sudan and forced the UN mission to stop mentoring flights
the peacekeepers have to conduct on daily basis in the buffer zone on
the border.
The leading rebel official went further to add that the SPLM-N is
ready to use UNISFA presence in Kadugli "positively" to facilitate the
vaccination campaign and to increase the chances for a full
humanitarian cessation of hostilities.
The proposition about the new role for UNISFA was discussed in a
meeting the SPLM-N held from 27 June to 5 July in the rebel controlled
areas in South Kordofan.
During the nine-day meeting, the rebel group reiterated its commitment
to the UN 2046 and reaffirmed their readiness to sign a humanitarian
cessation of hostilities and to engage political talks “resolving the
political crisis in Sudan”.
The rebel group refuses to hold negotiations aiming to resolve the
Blue Nile and South Kordofan conflict and demands a comprehensive
process involving the opposition parties and other rebel groups .
But Khartoum, rejects this proposals stressing that a political
agreement on the Two states should be prior to any humanitarian deal.
The government also says an all parties conference can be organised
after the signing of a peace deal not before.
Informed sources in Khartoum close to the file of negotiations with
the SPLM-N said that UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in
Sudan, Ali Al-Za’tari, met last week with the Sudanese officials to
discuss with them the new proposal made by the rebels about the
vaccination campaign.
"The government reiterated its initial position that any humanitarian
action should be carried out under its full control", he said.
Sudanese government and the SPLM-N signed an agreement with UN
agencies, African Union and Arab League aiming to provide civilians in
the rebel held areas with humanitarian assistance, but they disagreed
on how to implement it.
(ST)
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