July 13, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) has proposed to involve the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) in a vaccination campaign for children in the rebel controlled areas.
Since last April UN children (UNICEF) and health (WHO) agencies seek to reach some 150,000 children under five years in the SPLM-N areas in Blue Nile and South Kordofan to vaccinate them against Polio and to give them Vitamin A.
The government said its humanitarian agency should supervise this operation, but the rebels rejected its involvement and proposed to organize it from Ethiopia and Kenya with the participation of their humanitarian personnel.
"The SPLM-N forwarded a new idea to speed up and facilitate the vaccination campaign by involving UNISFA to carry-out the necessary arrangements and in particular, ensuring the safety of the United Nations personnel involved in the vaccination program with the full cooperation of the parties and providing logistics for them especially in the SPLM-N areas", said SPLM-N secretary general Yasir Arman in a statement he email to Sudan Tribune on Saturday.