Humanitarian agencies urged the United Nations Security Council Friday to expand an arms embargo to include all of Sudan while calling on the Sudanese government to allow access to humanitarian aid, dpa reported.
The calls come after humanitarian organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International recently found increasing levels of violence by Sudanese government forces in regions bordering South Sudan - especially Darfur state and South Kordofan and Blue Nile provinces.
Renzo Pomi, Amnesty International's representative to the UN, said that the civilian population is under constant threat by government bombings, which have killed several people and destroyed homes and livestock.
"Indiscriminate aerial bombing is the Sudanese government's signature tactic," Pomi said.
The Sudanese government has denied having any role in the attacks in the border region, which is home to several rebel groups aligned with South Sudan, and called the violence inter-ethnic fighting.
While Darfur, in southwest Sudan, is already under arms embargo, Pomi said the Security Council needs to extend the embargo to the entire country as the same pattern of violence has cropped up in other border regions.
Civilians are in danger of dying of hunger, and those who attempt to flee into South Sudan face violence, extreme heat and the lack of food and clean water.
Pomi said despite the large-scale humanitarian crisis, the Sudanese government has denied access to humanitarian organizations.
"Living conditions have worsened significantly by the Sudanese government's decision to refuse UN agencies and humanitarian aid," Pomi said.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said Thursday that while 4.4 million people are still in need, humanitarian access has improved in government-controlled areas since January.
Amos also said that she received a letter last week from the Sudanese Revolutionary Front, an alliance of rebel groups, promising to stop violence in order to allow humanitarian aid into the area.
Pomi said, however, that the Sudanese government has blocked all humanitarian access to rebel-controlled areas.
The violence has been ongoing in the border regions of Blue Nile and South Kordofan since South Sudan split from Sudan to become an independent state in July 2011.
The conflict in Darfur dates back to 2003, when the Sudanese government clashed with indigenous African rebels who demanded autonomy for the region. At least 300,000 people have died in that conflict.