Aid workers unable to reach most war zones in Darfur, western Sudan

NAIROBI, Jan 13, 2004 (dpa) — Aid workers are unable to reach about one million people who are seriously affected by fighting in western Sudan, a United Nations official said Tuesday.

“We have a huge humanitarian problem in Darfur, one of the worst in the world,” Ben Parker, spokesman for the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, told Deutsche Presse Agentur, dpa in Nairobi.

Supplies are sitting in warehouses in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, and cities in northern Sudan, and funding has been secured, he said. Intensified fighting amongst rebels, militias and government troops means that the aid can reach only 15 per cent of people in the south.

“You can’t give aid when there are bullets flying,” said Parker. The Sudanese government is also making it difficult for aid workers to get to the area.

“Permits are not issued quickly or using transparent criteria,” said Parker.

An estimated 600,000 people have been displaced by the war in the Darfur area, with a further 95,000 people having fled to neighbouring Chad, he said.

The UNHCR is currently negotiating with the Chadian government to open a third camp to accommodate up to 20,000 refugees further inside Chad.

Refugees live under harsh conditions, with little food and shelter.