New displacement reported in Sudan's Blue Nile state

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has received reports that some 20,000 people have been displaced in Geissan in Sudan's Blue Nile State, following intensified fighting between the SPLM-N and government forces in the area.

"Requests by aid organizations to travel to the area to verify the reports and assess humanitarian needs have so far been denied by the authorities," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing held here Wednesday.

Conflict has been ongoing in Blue Nile and South Kordofan since 2011. Access to SPLM-N controlled areas, where hundreds of thousands of people are said to be in need of assistance, has been blocked and aid operations in government-controlled territory are also heavily restricted.

SPLM-N stands for the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)/ northern sector.

"OCHA continues to call on the parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular in relation to the protection of civilians, to ensure safe, timely and unhindered access for aid organizations, as called for in Security Council resolution 2046," he said, referring to the resolution which was unanimously adopted in May 2012 by the 15-nation UN body.

The resolution also condemned the repeated incidents of cross- border violence between Sudan and South Sudan, and called for an immediate end to the fighting between the two neighboring countries.

Sudan accuses South Sudan of supporting the SPLM's northern sector rebels which are mostly active in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile. Sudan refuses to negotiate with the rebel group unless it breaks its link with the South Sudanese army, while South Sudan denies any connection with the movement. Endite