Sudanese exile group calls on UN seize Sudan Oil revenues

A group of Sudanese exiles are calling on the United Nations to create an oil for food program for the people of Darfur.

The government of Sudan has kicked out many agencies that provide much needed aid to Darfur. Creating an aid vacuum to an already urgent humanitarian crisis. To combat the problem the Sudanese exiles want the UN to step in.

The Sudan Tribune carries an article about the press conference.

The Sudanese Group for Transparency and Good Governance held a press conference in London to discuss establishing a UN-controlled fund of Sudanese oil revenues, saying the measure could fill the gap in the relief effort in Darfur after the expulsion of the international humanitarian organizations, and guarantee to South Sudan its full share of oil revenues in accordance with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Haroun Abdulhameed Haroun, the chairperson of the organization, said “peace can not materialize unless the oil revenue is directed to satisfy the needs, desires and welfare of the Sudanese people.” He proposed that oil revenues be used to address the major problems of Darfur refugees rather than financing a regime that he described as criminally violent, corrupt and irresponsible.

According to the proposal of the Sudanese Group for Transparency and Good Governance, the fund would also compensate victims of war and dam construction, as well as to rehabilitate the war-affected areas and “to save the unity of Sudan.”

Organizers claimed that the UN-controlled fund is necessary because “all Darfur is now transformed into a displaced area… The living situation in the camps is miserable as the government is impeding humanitarian aid and expelling the working organizations in this field.”

They also cited lack of compensation for war victims, saying this deficit “is proved by allocating only $30 million for compensation according to the deformed Abuja Peace Agreement. This sum of money merely equals the sum paid in compensation of two victims of the Lockerbie incident in Scotland/UK.”

“The Sudanese government does not respect or fulfill its promises to pay the small sum of allocated (in the budget) for the development and reconstruction in accordance to the unfair and partial peace agreements in Darfur, East and Kurdofan. This is made worse by the deprivation of fair compensation to victims of newly constructed dams in northern Sudan,” complained the group.