Amsterdam / Geneva — The Permanent Mission of Sudan in Geneva has asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide an explanation for the alleged use of UNHCR tarpaulins - intended to provide shelter for refugees - by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) troops to cover their armoured vehicles. The UNHCR says that it has "systems in place to manage and mitigate the risks of aid diversion in all our operations in Sudan".
This follows the wide circulation of a video clip on social media, allegedly showing RSF troops using tarpaulins distributed by the UN refugee agency to cover their armoured vehicles.
The Sudan mission called on the UN refugee agency to take measures to confront what it described as the exploitation of the UN agency's name by the RSF militia for military purposes, calling it "a serious violation of international humanitarian law and the Charter of the United Nations".
UNHCR
In an interview with Radio Dabanga broadcast on the Sudan Files programme yesterday, Assadullah Nasrullah, spokesman for the UNHCR Sudan office, confirmed that his organisation is aware of the video clip.
He stressed that the office is doing everything to ensure that the aid they provide reaches those who need it. "We have systems in place to manage and mitigate the risks of aid diversion in all our operations in Sudan."
The UNHCR Sudan works with partners and local communities, including volunteers, "to ensure that transparency and accountability standards are maintained during programme implementation and aid distribution," he said.
However, he underscored that despite this, and as happened with many other humanitarian organisations working in Sudan, they were subject to several cases of theft and looting of relief supplies in various locations.
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He noted that there is a joint system for United Nations agencies to investigate these incidents, as well as respond to them. The UN refugee agency earlier informed relevant Sudanese state actors of incidents of theft and misuse of UNHCR-branded materials.
Nasrullah underscored that the UNHCR around the world provides humanitarian assistance to refugees and people who have been forced to flee their homes, as well as to communities hosting displaced people and refugees, in accordance with the humanitarian principles of independence, impartiality and neutrality. "In Sudan, we adhere to the same principles in providing aid."
The spokesman for the UNHCR Sudan Office reiterated the agency's call to the parties to the conflict in Sudan to respect these humanitarian principles and international law, and to refrain from seizing, diverting, delaying or misusing humanitarian relief supplies.
Refugees
Chad is currently the country hosting the highest number of Sudanese refugees. According to recent figures released by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), an estimated 910,000 people have crossed into Chad since the onset of the crisis in Sudan, of which 213,339 are Chadian returnees as of end July 2023. IOM expects this number to rise to 240,000 through to December 2024.
Last month, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, warned that "time is running out" as famine, disease and fighting close in on the population, with no end in sight.
