Residents and regional experts say governments and NGOs should have been better prepared for violence
The message from the senior United Nations officials to their staff was honest – if unapologetic. Four days after Sudan was plunged into a welter of chaotic violence as two rival factions battled for control of its capital city, the UN’s special representative to Sudan answered questions online in a virtual “townhall meeting”.
“This is the worst of worst case scenarios,” Volker Perthes said. “We tried even with last ditch diplomacy … last week and we have failed.”