French MDM suspends activities in Sudan’s Darfur due to violence

Jan 29, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — A leading French aid group said Monday it was pulling out of Darfur because the violence in the western Sudan region posed too high a risk to its workers.

Medecins du Monde, or Doctors of the World, has “suspended its activities in Darfur for an undetermined period of time,” said the group’s director of international missions, Eric Chevallier, in a phone interview.

“The balance between the help we were able to provide and the risks our staff were taking had reached breaking point,” Chevallier said.

Several other aid groups have reduced their staff in Darfur because of the violence, and warned that they might be forced to withdraw completely. But Doctors of the World is the first major aid group to pull out.

More than 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur and about 2,5 million forced to flee their homes during the past four years.

(AP)