News in Brief

Nuba Vision

Volume 2, Issue 3, April 2003

News in Brief: Humanitarian Access to Nuba Mountains

The United Nations World Food Programme has started for the first time in 19 years to send cross-line food convoys to Karkar in the Nuba Mountains. The first food trucks involved in the operation departed from Kadougli on 31 March 2003, an area under the control of the Government of Sudan, and have already reached Karkar on 1st April 2003, a location under the control of SPLM/A.

This first cross-line operation was made possible following negotiations with both the Government of Sudan and the SPLM/A under the auspices of JMC. The WFP convoy, which carried 43 tones of food supplies, traveled under the escort of the Joint Military Commission in charge of supervising the cease-fire agreement for the Nuba Mountains.

The two-day journey of approximately 80 Km took place without any problems. Its long duration was mainly due to the poor state of the road. After this first trial of cross-line food convoys, WFP plans to continue transporting food by road to SPLM/A controlled areas in the Nuba Mountains with the support of JMC.

Since November 2001 when the first food assistance was taken by WFP to the SPLM/A controlled areas of Nuba Mountains, all food commodities have been transported by air, at very high cost. Land transport will reduce by approximately 80 percent the costs of provision of food aid to SPLM/A controlled areas of the Nuba Mountains.

The 43 Metric tonnes of food commodities transported by this convoy will feed approximately 3,000 people for a month. This is part of an ongoing WFP intervention to assist some 140,000 people in the SPLM/A controlled areas of the Nuba Mountains and another 133,000 people in the Government controlled areas.

The cross-line road convoys is one more in a series of developments facilitating the provision on humanitarian assistance to Sudan. Earlier in March, WFP started providing food aid to populations in Blue Nile. This was the first time ever that humanitarian agencies were given access to the region. In October 2002, the Government of Sudan and the SPLM/A have also committed themselves to guarantee unimpeded access to all areas covered by the Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), which has allowed for the provision of assistance to areas never reach before in parts of southern Sudan. In January 2003 following bilateral discussions between the UN, GoS and SPLM/A humanitarian assistance was expanded to non traditional OLS areas, such as Blue Nile.