Deterioration of security impedes relief aid in Darfur – UN
Oct 19, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — Fighting and insecurity throughout Darfur is hindering food and relief aid to tens of thousands of people and forcing more displaced Sudanese into already crammed refugee camps, the United Nations said Wednesday.
A recent spike in violence, marked by increased banditry and attacks on African Union peacekeepers, has led to the closure of many roads, particularly around the West Darfur capital of Geneina where 170,000 people have had relief assistance temporarily restricted, U.N. spokesman George Somerwill told reporters.
“Some aid is not being delivered to those who need it, which is making people desperate and driving them into camps,” Somerwill told The Associated Press.
The African Union, which is monitoring a shaky cease-fire to the Darfur conflict that has raged since February 2003, has condemned the two main non-Arab rebel groups for killing three Nigerian soldiers attached to the African force and kidnapping almost 40 others before releasing them.
The Darfur conflict started after rebels _ the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement _ took up arms against the Arab-dominated government to win more political and economic rights for the region’s African tribes.
Sudan’s government is accused of responding by backing Janjaweed militiamen responsible for rapes and killings against Sudanese of African origin, claims the government denies. The United Nations estimates the fighting has resulted in the deaths of more than 180,000 people through violence, disease or malnutrition.
More people have been fleeing into internally displaced people’s camps, particularly the Zam Zam, Tawila and Shangil Tobayi camps in North Darfur state, as a result of the insecurity, according to the World Food Program.
An eight-member AU team of military experts ended a tour of Darfur following a recent attack the killed three Nigerian soldiers attached to an AU peacekeeping force and the separate kidnapping of 38 AU personnel.
Amid the worsening violence, increased international attention has been turned onto Sudan.
On Thursday, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazier, is due to arrive for a three-day visit for talks with senior Sudanese officials on the new unity government and the situation in Darfur.
Also, the United Nations’ special rapporteur for human rights in Sudan, Dr. Sima Samar, is currently touring the country as part of a one-week mission to learn more from people on the ground about the human rights situation in the country.
(ST/AP)