The Militarisation of Aid in Sudan
The European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council
Date of Publication: February 2000
Norwegian People's Aid is supporting the SPLA, an organisation described
by the New York Times, no friend of the Sudanese government, as "brutal
and predatory" and "an occupying army, killing, raping and pillaging".
SPLA leader John Garang was described by the same newspaper as a "pre-
eminent war criminal". In December 1999, Human Rights Watch stated that:
"The SPLA has a history of gross abuses of human rights and has not made
any effort to establish accountability. Its abuses today remain serious."
Human Rights Watch has pointed to summary executions, arbitrary arrests
and food aid theft from civilians in famine areas by the SPLA.
Established and respected humanitarian organisations such as CARE, Save
the Children, World Vision, Church World Service and the American
Refugee Committee have jointly stated that the SPLA is guilty of "the
most serious human rights abuses". The BBC has reported growing
friction in SPLA-controlled areas of southern Sudan, specifically within
Didinga areas: "The Didinga have accused the SPLA of becoming an army of
occupation in the area."
These are the very areas in which Norwegian People's Aid is active. It
is obvious that NPA and the money which supports it, is helping to
artificially sustain the SPLA in these and other areas of "occupation".
Without the support of external forces such as Norwegian People's Aid,
the SPLA would have had to negotiate an end to a stalemated conflict.
It is clear that Norwegian People's Aid serves not merely as a
propaganda adjunct to the SPLA, but also as an organisation willingly
involved in the supply of weapons and war material to southern rebels.
It nurtures a deeply unpleasant organisation, and helps perpetuate
Sudan's civil war.
Norwegian People's Aid has also served as propagandists for the SPLA.
The Norwegian government report stated that:
"The publicity, which NPA has been able to supply in favour of the Movement,
has...been significant. NPA briefed journalists and guided them in the field." |
