Oxfam aid flight leaves Britain for Sudan’s Darfur region

LONDON, July 25, 2004 (AP) — An aid flight carrying sanitation and water purification equipment left Britain Sunday to help those suffering in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The plane, carrying about 30 tons worth of supplies, left Kent International Airport in Manston, southeastern England, for Niala, in Darfur. It was the third flight to be organized by the aid group Oxfam.

“The situation is rapidly deteriorating on the ground, disease is becoming an increasingly large worry,” Oxfam said. “This urgently needed equipment will be used to try to stop the spread of disease and provide clean water.”

Up to 30,000 people, most of them black Africans, have been killed in the Darfur region and more than 1 million people have fled their homes. Some 2.2 million are in urgent need of food or medical attention.

Violence in the area began 15 months ago when two rebel groups from Darfur’s African tribes took up arms in a struggle over land and resources with Arab countrymen. Arab militias known as Janjaweed then began a brutal campaign to drive out the black Africans.