The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said several mortar rounds landed near the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) offices, a local school and a local police station. No group has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attack. As a precautionary measure, UN staff have been sent to a base of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), a disputed area between Sudan and South Sudan.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan Ali Al-Za’tari called the attack a reprehensible violation of international humanitarian law. According to media reports from Sudan, there were a number of civilian casualties.

“UN and humanitarian partners have not been able to deliver assistance to people in need in the SPLM-North controlled areas of South Kordofan for quite some time, but are continuing to provide relief assistance to people affected by the fighting in government-controlled areas of the state,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva, using the acronym for the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

Lat month the UN Security Council voiced grave concern about the worsening humanitarian situation in South Kordofan and neighbouring Blue Nile state and urged the Sudanese Government to expedite the unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance to the affected civilian populations as rapidly as possible.

The two states, which lie on the border with South Sudan, have been beset by fighting between Sudanese forces and the SPLM-N since last year. The SPLM-N was previously part of the rebel movement that fought for the independence of South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan last year.

“The Acting Joint Special Representative of United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur - UNAMID, Aichatou Mindaoudou, is saddened by today’s plane crash, which took the life of an entire delegation chaired by the Minister of Guidance and Endowments, Ghazi Al-Saddiq, as well as the crew,” a UNAMID news release stated.

“On behalf of UNAMID, Ms. Mindaoudou offers her deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families of all victims and to the Government and the people of Sudan,” the news release added.

“Hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped in the conflict zone with little access to food, water, shelter and medical services,” said Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos in a statement.

“In order to respond to these growing needs, humanitarian agencies need unimpeded and complete access to all areas. I remain especially concerned that there continues to be no access to areas controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N),” she said.

Thousands of people are also crossing into neighbouring countries each day after fleeing conflict and related food shortages in Sudan and, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the number of Sudanese refugees arriving in South Sudan and Ethiopia has more than doubled since April, amounting to 200,000.

“The new arrivals are in a desperate state, with large numbers of children in urgent need of treatment for malnutrition,” Amos said.

While the Sudanese Government announced its acceptance of the Tripartite Proposal of the African Union (AU), the Arab League and the UN for the delivery of humanitarian assistance in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, the Government has laid out operational conditions that do not allow for the delivery of assistance by neutral parties in SPLM-N-controlled areas, Amos noted.

“I therefore continue to call on the Government of Sudan to deliver on its stated commitment: that assistance can reach all Sudanese people in need,” Ms. Amos said, reiterating the UN’s commitment to work with all parties to “find an acceptable solution for the immediate delivery of assistance to all people in need.”

Ms. Amos also welcomed the joint World Food Programme (WFP) and Government verification exercise that recently took place in six Government-controlled areas of South Kordofan, noting that food distribution had already begun, with the initial aim of reaching more than 100,000 people.