Foreign aid groups flee rebel attacks in Sudan’s Darfur: report

KHARTOUM, Nov 7 (AFP) — Two international aid agencies have withdrawn their staff from the Jebel Marra area in Sudan’s Darfur region after they were attacked by rebels, the semi-official Sudanese Media Center reported Sunday.

Quoting an informed source, it said the Spanish branch of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) and the Dublin-based GOAL agency have flown their 24 workers from the Golo area in Jebel Marra to Al-Fashir in North Darfur and Nyala in South Darfur.

The action was taken after “repeated” acts of aggression targeting the humanitarian personnel and the relief supplies intended for people in need, the press service said. The NGOs also complained that the rebels attacked their vehicles, it added.

There was no immediate confirmation of the report.

Fighting erupted in Darfur in February last year after the rebels launched an armed insurrection to protest what they allege is the political and economic marginalisation of the region’s black Africans by the Arab-led government.

Khartoum’s response was to unleash a brutal Arab militia, the Janjaweed. Since the fighting began more than 70,000 people have been killed or have died from hunger and disease in the area’s huge refugee camps, according to the UN.