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00:00Washington says it's providing 200 million dollars in fresh aid to war-ravaged Sudan.
00:06Tens of thousands have been killed by a conflict that's lasted nearly two years
00:11and triggered the world's largest displacement crisis.
00:15With 1.7 million people facing famine,
00:18the country risks becoming the largest crisis on the planet, as Emily Boyle explains.
00:25Sabrine is eight months pregnant with her fourth child.
00:29Months of conflict in Sudan has forced her to flee her home.
00:33Sabrine is one of the estimated 2.7 million women of reproductive age
00:38who are displaced in Sudan, according to the UN Population Fund.
00:45After I give birth, I worry about the cold weather
00:49and not having a proper place to put my baby.
00:53We don't have a home. We sleep outside, on the floor.
01:01More than 272,000 pregnant women are currently displaced in Sudan
01:06and almost 91,000 will give birth in the next three months,
01:10often unable to access antenatal, safe delivery or postnatal services.
01:15As I approach childbirth, I worry about whether it will be a normal delivery
01:19or require a C-section.
01:21The thought of needing a C-section terrifies me because I cannot afford the costs.
01:25Up to 80% of health facilities are either closed
01:29or barely functioning in crisis-affected areas.
01:32As a result, women are dying from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications.
01:40We had to leave our villages.
01:42At the time, I was nine months pregnant
01:45and our men destroyed the health centers, so I had to leave.
01:50Sudan had already endured years of crisis
01:53but the war has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe on an immense scale.
01:58The UN says nearly 1.5 million people across Sudan
02:01either face famine or are at risk of famine,
02:04including an estimated 35,000 pregnant women.
02:10For more, we're joined now by Shana Lewis, a Sudan specialist
02:14and senior advisor with PAEMA, a US-based organization
02:18working with vulnerable communities in Sudan and elsewhere.
02:22Shana, thank you so much for being with us on the program this evening.
02:26You have been giving an address at the UN today,
02:29calling on the Security Council to protect the people of Sudan.
02:33What was your main message there
02:35and what exactly does the Security Council need to do?
02:41Thank you for having me.
02:43The Security Council briefing today was about the urgent need
02:46for the Security Council to protect civilians in Sudan.
02:50We've seen the worst atrocities in the past 20 months of the war.
02:55We're looking at the world's largest displacement crisis,
02:58the world's largest food insecurity crisis,
03:01and the world's largest protection crisis, including child protection crisis.
03:05But somehow, amidst all of the atrocities in Sudan,
03:08the international community has failed the people of this country
03:12for the past 20 months.
03:14In the briefing today, I underscored the urgent need for the Council
03:17to take three key steps in protecting civilians in Sudan.
03:21The first is addressing the telecommunications blackout,
03:24which has persisted for almost 12 months,
03:27severing over 30 million people in Sudan
03:30from lifesaving and essential Internet connection,
03:33as well as access to phone lines and basic telecommunications networks.
03:38So the Council has the power to send in a technical assessment team to Sudan
03:44to conduct an assessment for the repair, the restoration,
03:49and the protection of Sudan's telecommunications networks,
03:52and to essentially break the blackout that the people of Sudan
03:55have been under for the past year.
03:58The second recommendation was for the Security Council
04:01to do what it should have been doing the whole time,
04:04which is following its own recommendations.
04:06The UN fact-finding mission for Sudan recommended the deployment
04:10of an independent, impartial protection of civilian force to Sudan.
04:17But unfortunately, that hasn't happened.
04:20The Council needs to follow its own recommendation from the FFM
04:25and pursue options for the deployment of a physical protection presence.
04:30If, after the assessment is done, it's clear that actually
04:34the conditions are unfavorable, then it's on the part of the Council
04:38to explain why they are then unable to deploy
04:42a remote monitoring mission to the country.
04:44A remote monitoring mission for Sudan would be at a fraction of the cost
04:48of a physical deployment and would allow early warning
04:52and early action systems to prevent the escalation of violence
04:55across the country.
04:56And the third key piece here is humanitarian access.
05:00Although there have been some improvements in securing
05:03humanitarian access in recent months, the international community
05:07still is not doing enough for Sudan.
05:09And the little trickle of aid that is entering the country
05:13is actually just delaying death.
05:16It's not saving lives.
05:17So the international community urgently needs to increase donations
05:21to the Sudanese humanitarian response plan and also needs to work
05:26hand-in-hand with Sudanese civil society and local humanitarian responders
05:31who are on the front lines providing life-saving humanitarian assistance
05:35through the emergency response rooms and other grassroots initiatives.
05:39Shani, you've referred to it several times.
05:41Why is the international community not doing more to intervene here?
05:45And why isn't the situation in Sudan receiving more attention?
05:53I think on Sudan, it's not a lack of options.
05:56It's really a lack of ambition from the Council.
05:58There are a range of mechanisms that the Council could be using right now,
06:02mechanisms that have existed for years, such as the Darfur sanctions regime
06:07and the Darfur arms embargo.
06:09But instead of enforcing these mechanisms, the UN continues to sit and watch
06:14and really just use words of condemnation for what is happening in Sudan
06:19rather than matching those words with action.
06:21So it's not that we need to reinvent the wheel to find solutions for Sudan.
06:26It's that the UN just needs to use the mechanisms that it already has.
06:30And frankly, the excuses of the Council and also member states,
06:36we've heard them time and time again.
06:38And when we're looking at a country of 49 million people
06:42that are being devastated by this war,
06:44by armed men who have no concern for civilian lives,
06:48the words of condemnation are no longer enough.
06:51So it's really incumbent on the Council to finally use the mechanisms
06:55that they have at hand and take action to protect civilians in Sudan.
07:00And Shana, you've called for those who are financing and benefiting
07:04from the conflict to be held account through sanctions.
07:07Now, reportedly, the United Arab Emirates, it has pledged this evening
07:11not to provide weapons to paramilitaries.
07:15What kind of impact will that have to what's happening on the ground?
07:20Frankly, the assurances of the United Arab Emirates
07:23that they are not providing weapons to the rapid support forces are very thin.
07:29We have the evidence compiled by the UN's own panel of experts
07:33that shows that the United Arab Emirates have been funneling weapons
07:37into western Sudan, into the Darfur region, through eastern Chad.
07:42So we need more than words from the United Arab Emirates
07:47that has to actually be an investigation at this point.
07:51We have the evidence, and now it's on the role of the Security Council
07:56to actually impose sanctions on these actors.
08:00But more than that, independent states can take their own unilateral sanctions,
08:05but nobody really wants to kind of look the UAE in the eye
08:10and take that bold ambition to say, actually,
08:14we prioritise the lives of Sudanese civilians over the gold
08:18that the UAE can provide to the world.
08:21And Shaina, the Biden administration, it's announced another $200 million
08:26in funding to Sudan.
08:28Are you expecting a change in approach when we have a new president
08:32in the White House in January?
08:35The change in administration in January could be an opportunity
08:41for a renewed approach to Sudan.
08:44Frankly, the Biden administration did not have a coherent policy on Sudan.
08:48And if the new administration were to actually take bold ambition,
08:52were to actually declare what is happening in Darfur as a genocide,
08:57this could lead to a renewed approach in which there is more international
09:01buy-in to the peace process on Sudan, but also more pressure
09:05on external backers in Sudan to ensure that those who are profiting
09:09from the conflict in Sudan can no longer do so
09:13and actually face accountability for their actions.
09:16Shaina, thank you so much for your time on the programme this evening.
09:19That is Shaina Lewis, Sudan Specialist and also Senior Advisor with PAEMA.
09:24Thank you so much.
09:26Up next, it's time for...