United Nations – When war erupted in Sudan in April last year, millions of people found themselves in the midst of a multidimensional humanitarian crisis, especially with humanitarian organizations leaving or unable to operate due to continued fighting.
UN News/Abdelmonem Makki Haneen Ahmed, Sudanese human rights and volunteer activist.
However, Sudan’s young men and women rolled up their sleeves and decided to fill the vacuum left by the exit of humanitarian organizations, in light of the collapse of state institutions and the deterioration or interruption of basic services in large parts of the country, which caused great suffering to vulnerable civilians, millions of whom need the necessary humanitarian assistance.
“Emergency Rooms” is one such initiative that serves as an “emergency local government” established by young volunteers with the aim of providing basic services to citizens facing the risk of death, hunger, disease and difficulty in accessing drinking water, electricity and communication service. These rooms have not only been involved in humanitarian aid, but have helped evacuate people from the lines of fire.
Inaction is not an option
Haneen Ahmed is a young Sudanese activist with a master’s degree in gender, specializing in peace and conflict. After the outbreak of the war, Haneen decided to make a difference in her community, setting up an emergency room with one of her colleagues in the old Omdurman area.
On International Women’s Day, we republish an interview we had with Haneen during her visit to UN Headquarters in New York, accompanied by colleagues from emergency rooms to brief UN officials on the important work that emergency rooms are doing on the ground.
Haneen Ahmed says the issue of Sudan is not receiving enough attention despite the catastrophically deteriorating situation on the ground. She added that youth emergency rooms contributed to filling part of the vacuum created by the exit of international organizations operating in Sudan, and the inability of state institutions to provide services to citizens.
Haneen Ahmed explained that the emergency rooms enjoy intensive community participation by young people of different political orientations and colors. “We are united by humanitarian work and a sense of responding to the repercussions of war and helping people,” she said.
Multitasking in a challenging environment
Haneen Ahmed expressed her pride in the “many successes” achieved by the emergency rooms, adding: “Through our youth networks and personal connections, we were able to open safe corridors to evacuate citizens from neighborhoods under attack and take them to shelters. We are also dealing with victims of sexual violence and safe corridors have been opened for relief campaigns, but we are facing theft and young people are being searched and arrested while working in very difficult conditions.”
“We are familiar with safe corridors and we know who controls them because we are on the ground and therefore we use these corridors to evacuate people from one place to another,” she said.
Call to silence guns
Youth emergency rooms operate amid logistical difficulties in security, movement and communication network disruptions. Haneen Ahmed adds that the lack of effective means of communication complicates the process of reaching volunteers on the ground, in addition to financial difficulties in light of the growing needs on the ground, especially in shelters hosting the displaced.
Another challenge, Haneen said, is raising the capacity of volunteers due to the rapidly changing dynamics of the situation on the ground, “and we are trying to adapt to all the existing challenges and find innovative solutions to them, but we still need to be developed and we need a strong system to cope with all these challenges.”
“In emergency rooms, we cannot cover all the needs in conflict zones. We therefore ask the international community and interested international organizations to shed light on the Sudanese issue and press to silence the guns, protect civilians and provide more support to help those affected by the war.”
The UN’s World Food Programme has warned that the war in Sudan threatens to trigger the world’s biggest hunger crisis. It has shattered the lives of millions and created the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 25 million people across Sudan, South Sudan and Chad are trapped in a spiral of deteriorating food security.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Clementine Nkwita Salami, has expressed dismay at reports of attacks on volunteers working with civil society organizations in the country, including emergency response rooms. “National staff and local volunteers are on the frontline of the humanitarian response in Sudan. They must be able to safely carry out their decisive and life-saving efforts.”
Ms. Nkwita Salami said she was concerned about reports of violent attacks on volunteers working with civil society organizations and emergency response rooms providing essential services to women, men and children in hard-to-reach areas, “including soup kitchens and health services for vulnerable communities in Omdurman, Khartoum and elsewhere in Sudan.”
She stressed that these “brave and dedicated” local volunteers and responders are often directly affected by the ongoing crisis in Sudan, but continue to make sacrifices and personal risks on a daily basis. “Sudan’s humanitarian community stands by them and applauds their humanity and commitment to helping people wherever they are. We repeat today and every day that civilians and humanitarian workers are not targets.”
