Darfur humanitarian situation bleakest since conflict began: UN
Nov 27, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — More people have fled their homes within Sudan’s Darfur region than at any time since the conflict started there nearly four years ago, said the UN in a report on the worsening humanitarian crisis.
“The number of IDPs (internally displaced people) has reached nearly two million, the highest level since the conflict started in 2003 and an increase of some 125,000 since the July 1 report,” said a summary of the report.
The report comes amid efforts to upgrade peacekeeping operations in Darfur where violence continues between government forces and rebel factions and threatens to spill over into neighbouring countries.
Darfur mainly borders Chad and Central African Republic, and last week the UN Security Council expressed “serious concern” about the growing instability along those border areas.
The report released on Monday reviews the humanitarian situation in Sudan’s western region of Darfur covering the months of July, August and September.
“Another two million Darfurians directly affected by the ongoing crisis are in need of humanitarian aid, again the highest number ever since the beginning of the current crisis,” the report added.
The conflict started in February 2003 when ethnic minority rebels demanding a greater share of the country’s resources took up arms, prompting a scorched earth campaign by the government and its allied Janjaweed militia.
According to the UN, at least 200,000 people have died from the combined effect of civil fighting and famine since then. Some sources say the toll is much higher, with villages burnt and mass rape being blamed mainly on the militia.
A contingent of some 7,000 observers from the African Union has failed to stabilise Darfur, an arid region roughly the size of France.
The African body and the United Nations have agreed to join forces in a bid to increase the number of peacekeepers in Darfur and offer them better equipment.
But the Arab-dominated regime in Khartoum has consistently rejected attempts by the UN to dispatch peacekeepers and its stance on the recent proposed “hybrid force” remains uncertain.
African officials, including 15 heads of state, are to meet in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on Thursday with the aim of deciding the exact participation of the UN in the currently underfunded, undermanned AU force.
The United Nations, which runs the largest humanitarian operation in Sudan, also said it was being increasingly obstructed in its relief efforts.
“On 1 October 2006, UN accessibility in Darfur plummeted to 64 percent, the lowest access rate since April 2004, with all three states equally affected,” it said, referring to the Northern, Western and Southern states which make up the region.
The UN report said that 21 humanitarian vehicles and 31 convoys had been ambushed and looted between July and September. The attacks had resulted in the death of six AU observers.
“Some 13,400 national and international aid workers from 80 NGOs and Red Cross/Crescent Societies and 13 UN agencies continue to support the affected populations in Darfur,” the UN said.
(AFP)