peace and security

International agency Oxfam called today for a massive and rapid global surge in the aid effort to help millions of people at acute risk of hunger and disease in South Sudan saying that the crisis has reached a ‘now or never moment’ to avoid catastrophic levels of hunger and suffering.

In response to UN-Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi's briefing of the Security Council today, Andy Baker, who heads up Oxfam’s response to the Syria Crisis, said:

A lot of attention has been paid to the negative side of South Sudan’s ethnic groups and diverse cultures. These are the voices of those who went the extra mile. Their bravery and strength in light of the situation they faced is a testament to the extraordinary power of compassion, hope and the will to survive.

As talks are underway between South Sudan's President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar in Addis Ababa today, Oxfam's Head of Liaison Office with the African Union, Desire Assogbavi said:

Most analyses of violence in Darfur ignore the local dimension of the crisis, focusing instead on the region’s economic and political marginalization and climatic variability.

Oxfam reaction to UN Security Council resolution for a new peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA, in th

More than 65 per cent of refugees surveyed by Oxfam fear they may not be able to go back to Syria despite desperately wanting to return. There is an urgent need for Geneva peace process to be kick-started as well as improved response from donor countries to UN’s humanitarian appeal.

Today Oxfam withdraws four aid workers who have been trapped by fighting in Malakal while raising a further alarm over a lack of humanitarian access across the country.

Oxfam’s Humanitarian Policy Advisor Shaheen Chughtai said: “A week after the start of Geneva II we have yet to see any genuine progress on humanitarian assistance to the millions of Syrians

Fifty-five NGOs have been deeply alarmed at the scale of human suffering seen in the country in the past six weeks, and so welcome the recent signing in Addis Ababa of a cessation of hostilities agreement between the Government of South Sudan and the opposition forces.