Sudan Humanitarian Crisis Outranks Others Official Says

United Methodist News Feature

Contact: Linda Bloom · (212) 870-3803 · New York

NEW YORK (UMNS) - While the plight of the Kosovars has captured world attention, a much greater civilian crisis goes practically unnoticed.

"Sudan is absolutely the worst humanitarian situation in the entire world," declared Roger Winter, executive director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees, during a May 25 briefing.

The U.S. government has made "no discernable response" to the magnitude of the Sudan crisis, he told members of the Immigration and Refugee Committee of Church World Service, the National Council of Churches' relief agency.

All of Sudan is suffering from the effects of years of civil war, Winter said, but the southern part of the African country suffers to the extreme. "I have been almost everywhere in the world where there has been conflict over a period of years, and there's no place like south Sudan," he added.

Some have tried to characterize the Sudan crisis as a north versus south or Muslim versus non-Muslim issue, but its basis is not that simple, according to Winter. As a nation shaped by the decisions of colonial powers, Sudan's "chances for survival as a peaceful, unified country were really undermined." Fractures have developed between the government and a substantial part of the population.

Continuing unrest during Sudan's 45 years of independence had resulted, by early 1998, in more than 1.9 million war-related civilian deaths - more than in any other conflict since World War II. Another 4 million people have been internally displaced from their homes, a significantly higher figure than in any other country.

"The population of the south has been drained off over a period of time because of the conflict," he said.

The remaining population is "highly vulnerable" to regular bombardment, droughts that cause even more severe food shortages and a total lack of infrastructure. War has made the south Sudan "the most destitute society in the world," he pointed out.

The United Methodist Church of Sudan, officially organized in 1996, has about 3,000 members in the south. African Christians and animists are concentrated in that part of the country, while the Muslim Arabs, who control the government, are based in the north.

Current U.S. policy on Sudan is driven by the issue of terrorism - the country was placed on the list of nation states supporting terrorists in 1992 - rather than peace and justice issues, Winter claimed.

The U.S. Committee for Refugees is trying to point out to the Clinton Administration the U.S. neglect of the Sudanese humanitarian crisis as compared to the situation in Kosovo and in other countries. Winter urged the members of church-related relief agencies "to take some initiatives of your own with respect to Sudan" and support an ongoing peace process there.

May 26, 1999