Sudan’s Dr. Tom Catena calls for opening of corridor for aid to reach suffering people of Nagorno-Karabakh, lest 1915 be repeated.
Dr. Tom Catena in 2017 was awarded the Aurora Prize, established to honor the memory of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. Over 100 years later, Catena is warning that the world might be witnessing another genocide against Armenians – this time taking place in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Known for his work in Sudan, where he is medical director of Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains, Dr. Catena is calling on parties in a regional dispute to open a humanitarian corridor to avoid potential mass starvation.
Speaking to Aleteia from his home in Sudan, Dr. Catena said “the situation has gotten pretty critical, and there are 120,000 people that live there, and there are calls going out that people are going to die from starvation if something’s not done.” “So the question now is to at least open a humanitarian corridor, allow food and medicine in and wounded and sick people out to greater Armenia for care. And Azerbaijan has been refusing,” he said.
Asked what other nations, particularly the US, can do at this point to help the plight of these people, Dr. Catena said: “I think you simply have to push these guys to open a humanitarian corridor. It can’t be that difficult to, say, stop the blockade, open a humanitarian corridor, allow food and medicine in, and we go back to start negotiating. Try to find a durable peace and stop this back and forth.”
“So “I think the UN Security Council has the ability to kind of force it. It can’t take that much to do it. I mean, what’s the problem? I don’t see a big deal,” he said.
