From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: SUDAN: Urgent call made to airlift
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 17:00:35 GMT

Title: SUDAN: Urgent call made to airlift food into Juba


london, aug 19 (ips/moyiga nduru) -- the sudanese community in
britain is urging the united nations to urgently resume emergency
food airlifts to the beleaguered southern city of juba where an
estimated 300,000 civilians are threatened with starvation.

''the situation in juba is appalling. food has ran out. unless
the u.n. moves in quickly with relief aid, the population will
perish from starvation,'' solomon balus of the relief association
for southern sudan (rass) said wednesday.

the appeal comes one day after the rebel sudan peoples liberation
army (spla) faction, led by colonel john garang, threatened to
shoot down any plane flying into the besieged town. garang's
faction claims that a u.n. plane had been used to ferry military
armament to government security forces in juba.

in a statement issued from nairobi, ejijah malok aleng of the
sudan relief and rehabilitation (srra), which is aligned to
garang's spla also warned: ''anybody flying to juba without proper
agreement does it at her/his own risk.''

the warning came just two days before the u.n. is scheduled to
airlift more than 1,000 tonnes of food, medicine and shelter
material to juba, the main city of southern sudan. ambassador
darko silovic of the u.n. department of humanitarian affairs said
the lift would be made on thursday.

airlifts to juba were suspended in july when the spla, which has
laid siege to juba, had stepped up fighting in and around the
city, shelling the airport and shooting down government planes.

the spla, which is now split into two factions, has since 1983
been waging a guerrilla war against the khartoum government of
northern sudan in a bid for self-determination. the other spla
group, which broke away from the garang faction last august, is
led by riak machar. the two are now locked in a power struggle and
have converged on juba.

in the meanwhile, the town's population of about half-a-million --
crammed into an area of about four square km -- is suffering acute
food shortages. half of juba has reportedly been razed by warring
factions.

with rains expected in the southern part of the country, relief
agencies fear the vulnerable -- mainly children and the old --
will be most at risk.

''with the people exposed in open spaces, coupled with the
absence of any sanitary facilities, it is easy to see how diseases
like cholera, diarrhoea and malaria breaking out,'' the nairobi-
based southern sudanese peoples forum (ssfp) warned recently.
(more/ips)

sudan: urgent call made to airlift food into juba(2-e)

sudan: urgent (2)

the situation is also worrying the non-governmental organisation
combined agencies relief team (cart). first established in juba in
1986 by a number of international and national ngos, cart warned
last week in london that unless the airlift was resumed
immediately people will die.

in 1985, 250,000 civilians died of starvation in the south. the
tragedy forced the u.n. to launch the ambitious ''operation
lifeline sudan'' in april 1988. but that operation, too, had
always been subjected to constant interruptions by the sudanese
and the rebels.

sudan, along with ethiopia, eritrea, somalia and the whole of the
southern africa have been hit by famine. over 40 million people in
these war-torn or drought-stricken countries require immediate
international attention. (end/ips/np/mn/cpg/92)


-- 
Mr. Aaron (Barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us) -- posting from Evanston, Illinois
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african