This week, China hosts peace talks with Pakistan and Afghanistan. Sudan’s health workers lack supplies to save mothers and infants. Easter weekend sees calls for peace in South Sudan.
China Hosts Peace Talks Between Pakistan and Afghanistan
From April 2 until this week, China has been hosting peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan following cross-border fighting after Pakistan launched airstrikes on Pakistan in February. Pakistan accuses the Taliban in Afghanistan of harboring militants who attack Pakistan.
The UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in Afghanistan posted on X on April 7 that the conflict had displaced 94,000 people.
While Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi called the talks “useful,” Pakistani officials did not respond directly to the talks. However, Pakistani Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir vowed to continue Pakistan’s military actions until “the culmination of terrorists’ safe havens and use of Afghan soil against Pakistan is decisively brought to an end.”
Sudan’s Health Workers Lack Supplies to Save Mothers and Infants
Sudan’s health workers lack the necessary supplies to save patients from death. In a UN report published on April 3, doctors in a key maternity hospital described helplessly watching mothers and babies die before their eyes.
Dr. Hasan Babikir, a doctor at El-Obeid Maternity Hospital in North Kordofan, told the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, “There’s a severe shortage of surgical and normal delivery equipment, as well as essentials such as antibiotics, surgical sutures and gloves,” adding “This forces us to buy them from the market at very high prices.”
El-Obeid Maternity Hospital is the only referral hospital in western Sudan and currently serves over 230,000 displaced people. Most patients are women and girls impacted by sexual violence, hunger, and almost no healthcare. Meanwhile, the city of El-Obeid faces drone attacks, many of which have been against healthcare facilities, killing health workers and patients.
Midwife Laila Sarfo said that doctors are lacking “adequate infection control equipment in the delivery rooms.”
Easter Weekend Sees Calls for Peace in South Sudan
The Easter weekend saw several calls for peace in South Sudan from both faith leaders and politicians. These calls for peace come after last week, gunmen killed 74 mine workers in Jebel-Iraq, with government and opposition leaders blaming one another.
Santo Loku Pio, the principal celebrant at St Theresa’s Cathedral, Juba, stressed Christianity’s message of peace, telling BBC, “If you are told to go and kill, refuse, even if it means losing your job.” He added “be a man or woman of peace.”
South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir also called for “peace, reconciliation, and unity.”
South Sudan’s conflict is between the military, which is loyal to Kiir, and insurgents believed to be allied with the suspended vice-president Riek Machar. on March 17, UNICEF said around 100,000 South Sudanese people had fled to Ethiopia in Jonglei state.
This was after South Sudan’s army on March 8 ordered evacuations to clear the way for a military offensive. UNICEF said in its update, “100,000 are estimated to have fled to Ethiopia from Akobo town after the evacuation order was issued. Akobo hospital was looted and closed.”
Keywords: South Sudan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, peace, conflict, conflict resolution, ceasefire, Easter, maternal health
Tara Abhasakun
Tara Abhasakun is Peace News Network (PNN)'s managing editor. She is journalist based in Christchurch, New Zealand, and formerly in Bangkok, Thailand. She has reported on a range of human rights issues involving youth protests in Thailand, as well as arts and culture. Tara's work has appeared in several outlets, including Al Jazeera and South China Morning Post.
