KHARTOUM (Reuters) - About
417,000 people have been displaced in Sudan's border states of South
Kordofan and Blue Nile as a result of ongoing fighting between the army
and insurgents, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
Fighting broke out between Sudan's army and SPLM-North rebels in
June in South Kordofan which borders newly-independent South Sudan.
Violence spread to the neighbouring northern border state of Blue Nile
in September.
About 82,000 people have fled both northern states to South Sudan
or Ethiopia to escape fighting, U.N. officials told reporters in the
capital Khartoum. Some 35,000 people from South Kordofan have fled to
Khartoum to stay mostly with relatives.
The humanitarian situation was deteriorating, especially in areas
controlled by the SPLM-North, as U.N. and aid agencies were still being
denied access, said Peter de Clerq, U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in
Sudan.
"We have made many interventions with the government in terms of
going back to South Kordofan and Blue Nile, so far we have not yet been
successful in accomplishing that," he said.
"We are in no position to verify the actual needs on the ground
as we are simply not there...we have little information," he said.
Sudan said it would continue to deny access, citing security reasons.
"The government cannot allow NGOs to these areas at least this
time because the government cannot guarantee their safety. Still there
is fighting...there is kidnapping," said Mohammed Fadlallah, acting
commissioner of the official Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC).
He said Sudanese aid agencies were providing aid in
government-controlled areas to where some displaced persons had been
returning.
North and South Sudan regular trade accusations of supporting
insurgencies on each other's territory. Their armed forces clashed at
Jau in a region claimed by both sides last week in a rare direct
confrontation.
The two countries are already holding tense talks over issues
such as oil and debt that have been unresolved since South Sudan seceded
in July.
-Reuters
