Aid workers survive attack
2004-02-28 16:18
Nairobi - Eight staff of UN and non-governmental organisations escaped unhurt when unidentified militia attacked their camp last week in southern Sudan, the UN said on Friday.
A statement released by the Nairobi-based Office of UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan said the staff "were deliberately targeted in a sustained attack by armed militia during a relief operation in Nimnim, southern Sudan's Western Upper Nile on February 20".
The militia group used rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine-gun fire, to attack a camp where the UN and NGO's staff were staying in the remote Nimnim area northeast of the Western Upper Nile state's oil-rich Bentiu region.
"The deliberate targeting of aid workers by paramilitary forces on the ground is exceptional in southern Sudan and the UN in Sudan regards the incident as shocking and disturbing," the statement quoted UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Bernt Aasen as saying.
Outrageous and intolerable
"This direct, deliberate and sustained attack on aid workers is outrageous and intolerable. Attacks on humanitarian workers in conflict situations are war crimes," he added.
The attack has caused suspension of relief activities for about 30 000 people in the area which is now off-limits to aid workers of the Operation Lifeline Sudan, a consortium grouping six UN and 40 NGOs in extensive relief and recovery operations in Sudan.
The agency also called on Khartoum and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) to detain and prosecute the suspected attackers.
"The UN strongly condemns the attack, and calls on the Sudan government and SPLA to identify, detain and prosecute the perpetrators," the statement said.
Militia groups allied to the Sudanese government are rampant in oil-rich Bentiu region, which is under Khartoum, notably to protect the oil wells from rebel attacks.
Since Khartoum and SPLA started peace talks in Kenya in 2002, militia activities, which formed an integral part of Sudan's 21 years of civil war, have tremendously reduced, owing to the progress made at the talks.