Hamdani Wadi Dldoom Correspondent
The purposes of the United Nations Charter are preservation of peace, developing of friendly relations among nations, achieving cooperation in solving problems of economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character and to be centre of harmonising actions of nations in the attainment of common ends of the human race on this globe. Furthermore, globalisation has blurred borders throughout the world.
People from different nations, cultures, religions and lifestyles are doing business, working together and living in the same neighbourhoods than ever before.
Tolerance of each other’s differences is a very important key to preserve peace among neighbours, such spirit indeed makes the world a much smaller place today.
On the other hand, the requirements of peaceful co-existence call for the adherence to the above-mentioned principles.
The government of the Republic of Sudan in its quest for peaceful co-existence has sacrificed one third of its area and 75 percent of its oil production revenues to the nascent sovereign entity of South Sudan and has been reflecting utmost attention to the regrettable conditions sustained by our kinship due to the internal conflicts and famine.
When the outcome of the referendum provided by 2005’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement was the secession, the parties vowed to two viable states.
The Sudan is still determined to realise this objective.
The fallout of the South Sudan crisis on the region is massive.
More than two million refugees have sought protection in neighbouring countries and thousands still continue to do so each day dramatically increasing pressure on resources, living conditions and inflicting a security hazard in host countries.
The latest case in point as regards to the security hazard is the violence in Al-Waral Refugee Camp in White Nile State in the Sudan.
The grave consequences of this situation propelled the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to call on Southern Sudanese refugees to respect Sudanese laws and resort to appropriate and legal channels to express their concerns.
The prevailing situation in the Republic of South Sudan, the president of the Republic of the Sudan issued orders to open corridors and facilitate provision of humanitarian assistance to the famine- stricken areas in South Sudan.
Upon this courageous and brotherly gesture, a high national committee presided by the former president of the Republic, Abdel-Rahman Suar-Alzahat, has been established, which comprises most of the government institutions, civil society organisations and international non-governmental organisations to mobilise resources, support and coordinate the initiatives and convoys of all public and government institutions and trade unions opt to provide assistance to the needy in South Sudan.
For the sake of raising the awareness of the people, the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) and Sudan Council for Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) have launched a plethora of organisations and partners for the relief of South Sudan.
Reinforcing the holistic approach, the Sudan approved to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to purchase 90 000 metric tons of sorghum from the local market as humanitarian assistance as well as a variety of foodstuffs and shelter to South Sudan.
As an appropriate and effective mechanism to render relief to the South, the parties have had an agreement in that respect which was about to expire, however, Sudan had agreed to extend the tripartite (GOS, UNDP, SSG) agreement for a second period making it possible for UNDP to deliver humanitarian aid to South Sudan.
As a result of the extension of this tripartite MOU, as of July 2017 more than 80 000 metric tons of aid has been delivered across four corridors along the borderline as well as receiving 800 000 refugees fleeing the deplorable conditions.
In the political efforts to resolve the crisis in the South, the African Union has taken a decision abiding by the subsidiarity principle that local conflicts should be dealt with by regional mechanisms.
Sudan, which was quite active and remains so with other members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), has led mediation processes which brought numerous multilateral efforts together, persuaded the South Sudanese stakeholders to sign the August 2015 agreement on the resolution of the conflict.
One of the key structures established in terms of this agreement was the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) chaired by the late former president of Botswana, Festus Mogae. However, its implementation still faces serious challenges.
In conclusion, this is neither a moral obligation nor an approach induced by foreign elements but it is one of the national programmes on which Sudan is exerting maximum efforts to implement. From this platform I call upon the individuals and nations to join forces in order to contain the deteriorating situation in the South.
Hamdan Wadi Dldoom is the Ambassador of Republic of the Sudan to Zimbabwe