Aid operations re-start in South Darfur town
February 18, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — Aid programmes re-started for more than 100,000 people who had been cut off from the relief effort in South Darfur town of Muhageriya.
“Senior officials of the United Nations gained assurances from the Deputy Governor of South Darfur for continued access to Muhageriya, Sheria and the surrounding localities,” stated the UN humanitarian coordinating office (OCHA).
Ameerah Haq, the UN’s humanitarian chief in Sudan, led discussions to re-open the area to aid programmes as government forces reconsolidated control over the area after JEM rebels held the town from January 15 to early February.
While aid groups were ready to respond to the humanitarian consequences of the recent hostilities, they were unable to reach the areas, and they stand ready to deliver food, medicines, shelter and water to villages such as Labado and Kazanjajeed, according to OCHA.
During discussions with the Deputy Governor, Haq cited the need for “independent humanitarian assessments of population movements, and of requirements for other relief including early recovery assistance,” OCHA disclosed.
The international NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF), whose base in the town was burned in the fighting while their clinic survived, announced today that their medical team returned to the town after being forced from the area for four weeks.
“It looks like more than half of the town has emptied,” reported MSF country director Reshma Adatia from Muhageriya, referring to the population of some 30,000. “We do not exactly know where the people are, but we will try to follow up and assist where needed. It seems people fled rapidly into the harsh environment, with little or no time to assemble and carry provisions. We fear they urgently need assistance.”
Displaced camps in North Darfur last week reported new arrivals, some from Muhageriya and other areas around it, arriving by truck or donkey. MSF is providing medical assistance to approximately 7,000 newly displaced people in North Darfur.
Since July 2004, MSF has provided medical assistance in and around Muhageriya, holding 54,000 patient consultations in 2008 alone. In the wake of the new displacement, MSF plans to bring in more staff and to restore clinics in the nearby areas of Labado and Um Shegeira.
(ST)