MSF evacuates medical teams from North Darfur after attacks

August 1, 2008 (NAIROBI) — International Medical humanitarian organization, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), announced today the evacuation of its teams from Sudan’s troubled north Darfur region following a number of attacks on its personnel there.

“After these violent attacks, we have had to suspend activities and evacuate all our staff from Tawila and Shangil Tobaya,” Monica Camacho, MSF Head of Mission in Darfur in a statement issued in Nairobi.

MSF decision comes after two attacks against its staffs in Tawila and Shangil Tobaya over the last week.

Unidentified armed men entered MSF compounds at night, threatened the staff with their guns and stole money, including the salaries of the local staff, along with other valuables.

Further, the medical charity said its staff were held at gun point and intimidated.

Some 17,000 aid workers are deployed in Sudan’s arid western region, where international experts estimate at least 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million been driven by their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in 2003.

The under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, John Holmes, called on Khartoum to take action to protect humanitarian aid workers in Darfur, where the deteriorating security situation has forced aid agencies to reduce rations for hordes of hungry people there.

“The Sudanese government has a responsibility to ensure security throughout their territory,” Holmes said in a statement. He further added this year, 180 humanitarian vehicles have been hijacked, 145 aid workers kidnapped and nine killed.

“Impunity for such attacks must end,” Holmes said. “Hundreds of thousands of people rely on the assistance these aid organizations deliver and we cannot afford to have them absent from Darfur,” he added.

Some 65,000 people, most of them driven from their homes, will be left without medical assistance as a result of the decision, according to Camacho.

“It was a difficult decision, because this suspension of activities leaves the people with no medical care. But it is impossible for our teams to work and provide medical aid without a minimum guarantee of security and respect for humanitarian work.”

The organization condemned the attacks and called for the respect of humanitarian aid workers, so they can continue providing much needed assistance to civilians.

However MSF said its activities in west and south Darfur would continue.

(ST)