Plight of Darfur’s rural communities worsening: ICRC
March 22, 2007 (GENEVA) — The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that the plight of the most needy rural communities in Sudan’s strife-torn region of Darfur is worsening.
The ICRC said in a regular report on its activities in Darfur that it was “extremely concerned” about the “precarious” humanitarian situation as rural communities were largely cut off from aid deliveries by violence.
“Continued fighting and generally poor security conditions in many areas are making people even more vulnerable than before and hampering aid workers’ access to those in need,” the Geneva-based agency said.
Sudan’s Justice Minister, Mohamed Ali al-Mardi, told the UN Human Rights Council last week that the situation was improving in Darfur.
“I can say without hesitation … that the situation in Darfur, since the eruption of the conflict three years ago, has never been much more stable than it is today,” al-Mardi said.
The ICRC said it deplored two security incidents since the beginning of the year where staff were briefly abducted and their vehicles stolen.
In the most recent incident near the western town of Zalingei on March 8, a four wheel drive vehicle and a truck were hijacked.
The six staffers were released unharmed after being held overnight, but had to walk across the desert for five hours before they found refuge in a village.
“The precarious security situation makes it extremely hard to plan and carry out field activities, and means that communities most at risk in rural areas are often reachable only sporadically, if at all,” the agency said.
In recent months, the ICRC has been stepping in to provide basic food water and sanitation for displaced people after other relief agencies withdrew following attacks.
The UN’s new emergency relief coordinator John Holmes, arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday for a week-long visit to Sudan, including Darfur.
In a report published this month, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the number of people internally displaced by the conflict in Darfur had reached two million.
(AFP)