UN faces $188 million funding shortfall in Sudan’s Darfur
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 30, 2004 (PANA) — United Nations relief agencies working
in the troubled Darfur region of western Sudan face a funding
deficit of US$188 million, it was revealed here Monday.
According to the UN humanitarian relief Co-ordinator, Denis
McNamara, only US$ 177 million has been secured while $365
million is needed in humanitarian assistance this year.
“This shortfall will obviously affect the delivery of
humanitarian assistance to the area. The Sudan government
needs to do more to contain this crisis,” he told journalists.
The UN relief official, who visited Darfur to assess the
humanitarian situation, noted that while access to Darfur
had improved, there was under-reporting of human rights abuses
by soldiers and the Arab militias in the area.
He particularly mentioned the “protection crisis” facing women
in Darfur region, saying it was complicating the area’s
humanitarian situation.
“There is a protection crisis in Darfur. There is an evident lack
of monitoring and reporting on the extent of human abuses,”
claimed the UN Special Advisor to the Emergency Relief Co-
ordinator.
“Cases of sexual violence and multiple rapes are incredibly
high and women face even higher risks whenever they venture too
far from their settlements to look for basics such as firewood,”
McNamara told the news conference in Nairobi.
McNamara, who toured the strife-ridden area where some 30,000
people have been killed in fighting over the last 18 months, said
that women and other people he met had talked about constant
rapes by the Janjaweed militia, although it was impossible to
prove the claims.
Over one million people have been internally displaced while
Over 100,000 have fled into neighbouring Chad to escape the
violence.
The situation likely to blow out of proportion if not contained,
the UN official warned.
He accused the Janjaweed militia of perpetuating most of these
rapes, though it was not easy to quote specific figures since
the attacks are varied and widespread in all the settlements
across Darfur.
The Special Advisor to the UN Emergency Relief Co-ordinator on
Displacement and Director of the Inter Agency Division on
Displacement said his organisation was deeply worried about
“the bias in rights protection.”
Terming the Darfur situation as complex and difficult, McNamara
urged UN agencies “to strengthen their protection mandate in
area as a matter of urgency,” saying UN agencies were currently
not able to intervene in the face of widespread abuses.
He said the lack of a functioning and an independent justice
system in the region was further aggravating the crisis with,
women often ashamed or afraid to report rape cases since no
concrete steps are taken to address their grievances.
The African Union has been making efforts aimed at reaching a
political solution during ongoing peace negotiations in Abuja,
Nigeria.