Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki at the UN Security Council
meeting on Sudan.
"Thank you, President. I thank Ms Wosornu, Mr Martina and Mr Skau
for their briefing. We are grateful to OCHA, WFP and FAO for
alerting the Council to this urgent crisis. And to Switzerland
and Guyana for convening the Council so swiftly. I welcome the
participation of the Representative of Sudan.
President, the risk of famine in Sudan, set out in OCHA’s
White Note, is of extreme concern. After a bad harvest, severe
hunger will deepen, harming vulnerable people the most. Most of
the fatalities will be children under five. We pay tribute to the
UN, international and Sudanese humanitarian staff working in
extreme conditions to alleviate this suffering.
I’ll make three points:
First, the White Note is clear that obstruction of humanitarian
access by the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces is
resulting in the starvation of the Sudanese people.
Using starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited by
international humanitarian law.
The Sudanese authority’s decision to allow extremely limited
humanitarian access from Chad is nowhere near enough to meet the
soaring humanitarian needs, especially whilst crossline access
remains completely blocked.
We call on the warring parties to urgently ensure and facilitate
unimpeded access via all routes, both cross-border and crossline,
including through the vital route at Adre.
Second, we need increased humanitarian funding.
The United Kingdom has provided over $54 million in humanitarian
aid to the people of Sudan this financial year. And we are
providing financial support to those fleeing to neighbouring
countries.
We welcome the upcoming France, German and EU-hosted pledging
event, and appeal to the international community to increase
funding to avoid the horrific scenario of one million excess
deaths in Sudan this year.
But while funding is important, this man-made crisis ultimately
requires a political solution.
So third, the fighting needs to stop. The world is witnessing the
catastrophic humanitarian consequences of a conflict that should
never have begun.
The failure of the SAF and RSF to implement a Ramadan ceasefire
and immediately facilitate unimpeded humanitarian access in line
with Council resolution 2724, is unacceptable. We call on both to
stop fighting immediately and return to negotiations.
Given the clear warning of impending famine, it is imperative
that the Council remains siezed of this issue and that we hold
ourselves, and the warring parties, accountable for delivering
the recommendations in the White Note."
