Portsudan — Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) issued a strongly worded statement on Sunday regarding the unfounded accusations launched by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
The Foreign Ministry said, in its statement, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reviewed the statement of the Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council on November 22 regarding the humanitarian situation in Sudan following his visit to the country."
The MFA statement added, "The Ministry also monitored the speech of the NRC's Country Director in Sudan before the International Development Committee in the British House of Commons on November 26 regarding the same issue," denouncing the unfounded accusations and extreme bias against the Sudanese government, its competent institutions and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) said by the NRC's officials.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the NRC Secretary-General unjustified involvement of the armed forces in the practice of starvation and preventing humanitarian aid from reaching those in need, a crime committed exclusively by the Janjaweed militia, which he was unable to name those who commit crimes of destroying villages and adopting a scorched earth policy, mass rapes and other atrocities against civilians, noting that it is the terrorist militia that documents its crimes itself, and leaves no room for doubt about its responsibility for that.
NRC said, "At the same time, he tried to hint that the Sudanese Air Force is targeting civilian homes. It is sufficient to prove the invalidity of what he said, the displaced civilians, numbering about 11 million, are in areas controlled by the armed forces, which fully adhere to international humanitarian law and place the protection of civilians as its first priority, although the terrorist militia uses civilians as human shields and uses civilian facilities, including citizens' homes, as centers for military operations and platforms for launching heavy artillery and drones."
The statement added, "The devastation caused by the Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon in a few weeks can be compared to what is alleged to have happened in civilian areas in Sudan due to military aviation over a period of nearly twenty months to refute these allegations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that the statement was devoid of any reference to the comprehensive facilities provided by the Sudanese government to facilitate the delivery of relief, including the opening of all border crossings, even those used to supply the militia with weapons and equipment, and the use of all airports operating in the country to receive aid and cooperate on airdrops of assistance, including areas controlled by the rebel militia. The ministry noted that the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs stood on this during his visit to Sudan last week and praised it.
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The MFA statement added, "In confirmation of the political position taken by the NRC against the Sudanese government, the speech of its country director in Sudan in the British House of Commons was biased and contrary to the truth, as he claimed that the procedures and controls of humanitarian action in Sudan are designed to hinder the provision of aid to those in need of it, "It is unfortunate that this hostile position comes from the Norgewian Refugee Council, which embodies the worst Examples of politicizing humanitarian action, after the Sudanese government provided all forms of cooperation and positive engagement with it, as evidenced by its reception of the NRC Secretary and facilitating his visit to the country, which can only be interpreted as an attempt to distort the image of the Sudanese government in the international arena, by hinting that the organization's officials are more concerned about the lives and safety of its citizens than it is, and an attempt to weaken the ability of the Sudanese Armed Forces to defend its people and its national state against the atrocities and massacres it is being subjected to at the hands of the terrorist militia, and the organization avoids indicating the militia's responsibility for them, which represents an encouragement to impunity, and means implicit approval for the continuation of these crimes.", the statement added.
