UN official warns Darfur could face key humanitarian test

March 24, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese government and the UN agreed today on some measures to fill the gaps resulted of the forced departure of 13 NGOs for two months. But UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan warned “the key test lies ahead.”

Sudan and the United Nations published today a joint assessment report on the humanitarian situation in Darfur and ways to bridge the gaps after the expulsion of main aid groups that Khartoum accused of cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In a statement published Tuesday, Ameerah Haq said that they agreed with the Sudanese authorities and the remaining NGOs on a “concerted stop-gap drive” to meet the immediate needs of the affected population in Darfur.

The UN official said that the government and UN partners form the aid groups are working to cover gaps. However she stressed that the “risks of increased morbidity and mortality are high.” Haq underlined the need for concrete plans in order to bridge the gaps in the coming weeks.

The joint assessment mission took place from 11-19 March. The locations visited covered all three Darfur states in the sectors of food aid, health and nutrition, non food items and shelter, and water, sanitation and hygiene.

The UN humanitarian official in Sudan identified areas (water, food, shelter) where joint UN – government- NGOs efforts are able to address fully or partly the gaps and only from March to the end of the next month.

She also underscored that some sectors like the hygiene and sanitation, nutrition and full health care are terribly affected by the eviction of the aid groups.

Haq noted that the work of NGOs managing nutritional surveillance and supplementary feeding programmes for malnourished children and for pregnant and nursing women had been interrupted.

She also pointed out that with the departure of the expelled groups the humanitarian work lost expertise monitoring and evaluation in various field. “This capacity, and the associated institutional memory and contextual knowledge, cannot be replaced easily or quickly.”

The Sudanese government said at different times since March 4, that its decision is irreversible. Also the Sudanese president Omer Al-Bashir said he intends to sudanize the humanitarian activities by the end of the year.

In New York the .N. Under-Secretary-General John Holmes, said Sudanese government did not done enough to cover the gap caused by the departure of the 13 aid groups.

He further said that to conduct the humanitarian aid operations properly the UN needs to find some proper partners for the UN World Food Programme if Sudan’s decision is not reversed. He added that the expulsion of aid groups “seems to us a reckless act.”

(ST)