wfn.org | Sudan humanitarian crisis outranks others, official says

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

May 26, 1999 News media contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
10-31-71B{297}

NEW YORK (UMNS) - While the plight of the Kosovars has captured world
attention, a much greater civilian crisis goes practically unnoticed.

"Sudan is absolutely the worst humanitarian situation in the entire world,"
declared Roger Winter, executive director of the U.S. Committee for
Refugees, during a May 25 briefing. 

The U.S. government has made "no discernable response" to the magnitude of
the Sudan crisis, he told members of the Immigration and Refugee Committee
of Church World Service, the National Council of Churches' relief agency.

All of Sudan is suffering from the effects of years of civil war, Winter
said, but the southern part of the African country suffers to the extreme.
"I have been almost everywhere in the world where there has been conflict
over a period of years, and there's no place like south Sudan," he added.

Some have tried to characterize the Sudan crisis as a north versus south or
Muslim versus non-Muslim issue, but its basis is not that simple, according
to Winter. As a nation shaped by the decisions of colonial powers, Sudan's
"chances for survival as a peaceful, unified country were really
undermined." Fractures have developed between the government and a
substantial part of the population.

Continuing unrest during Sudan's 45 years of independence had resulted, by
early 1998, in more than 1.9 million war-related civilian deaths - more than
in any other conflict since World War II. Another 4 million people have been
internally displaced from their homes, a significantly higher figure than in
any other country. 

"The population of the south has been drained off over a period of time
because of the conflict," he said.

The remaining population is "highly vulnerable" to regular bombardment,
droughts that cause even more severe food shortages and a total lack of
infrastructure. War has made the south Sudan "the most destitute society in
the world," he pointed out. 
 
The United Methodist Church of Sudan, officially organized in 1996, has
about 3,000 members in the south. African Christians and animists are
concentrated in that part of the country, while  the Muslim Arabs, who
control the government, are based in the north.

Current U.S. policy on Sudan is driven by the issue of terrorism - the
country was placed on the list of nation states supporting terrorists in
1992 - rather than peace and justice issues, Winter claimed.

The U.S. Committee for Refugees is trying to point out to the Clinton
Administration the U.S. neglect of the Sudanese humanitarian crisis as
compared to the situation in Kosovo and in other countries. Winter urged the
members of church-related relief agencies "to take some initiatives of your
own with respect to Sudan" and support an ongoing peace process there.

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