UN refugee body needs $40mln to protect Darfur civilians
April 4, 2008 (GENEVA) — The United Nations refugee agency today said it needs $40.3 million this year to protect more people in the war-torn Sudanese region
The funds will be used to help some 2.5 million displaced Darfurians and returnees as well as 47,500 refugees from Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) who have fled inter-ethnic clashes and conflict in their own countries, said the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Ron Redmond.
UNHCR’s Darfur operations in 2008 will focus on protection activities, including monitoring the well-being of refugees, displaced people and returnees in accessible villages; strengthening our role in camp management and coordination issues; and providing community-based rehabilitation programmes in rural areas along with other partners and UN agencies, he underlined on Friday.
“The challenges in Darfur have never been greater, with a pervasive conflict spreading across the region displacing more civilians and creating a very insecure environment for humanitarian workers,” Ron Redmond said.
Preventing rapes and other sexual violence remains a priority, he said.
The $40.3 million appeal marks a sizeable increase over the refugee agency in 2007 budgetary requirements of $19.7 million, reflecting the expansion of UNHCR’s presence in Darfur and its increased role in camp management and coordination issues within the UN framework of coordination.
UNHCR currently has 31 international and 74 national staff based in Darfur.
A major Sudanese government counter-offensive against rebel forces in West Darfur in February set off another round of displacement, it said. The U.N. has said 115 people were killed and 30,000 driven from their homes in the attacks on several villages using helicopter gunships and aircraft.
UNHCR’s primary area of operation until now has been in West Darfur, bordering Chad. “This year, however, we plan to extend our operational presence to North and South Darfur. We have already opened a field office in El Fasher, North Darfur, where the United Nations Mission in Darfur, UNAMID, is based.” Just this week, additional staff have been redeployed to Nyala in South Darfur., the spokesperson said
Only 9,000 of the envisaged 26,000 UN-AU peacekeepers have been deployed in Darfur, a vast region roughly the size of France. Western governments have blamed Khartoum for the slow pace of deployment, saying it has dragged its feet in approving the force’s composition and set up unnecessary obstacles.
Increasing the hybrid force to 26,000 has “faltered due to lack of air assets, troop contributions and bureaucratic process”, the UNHCR said in an appeal document sent to donors.
Aid workers have increasingly become targets for robbery, car-jackings, and theft of equipment, the UNHCR said.
The appeal for 2008 doubles the amount sought last year for Darfur, where UNHCR also provides vital aid to 45,000 refugees from Chad and 2,500 refugees from the Central African Republic.
(ST)