Darfur fighting displaces 16,000 people in one week
February 2, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – More than 16,000 internally displaced people arrived at different camps in western Sudan’s region of Darfur last week, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.
“The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that aid agencies have confirmed that 36,000 people have been displaced by fighting between Government forces and armed movements in Darfur since January,” Dujarric said.
“This reflects an increase of about 16,000 newly verified displaced over the past week,” he added.
The Sudanese army (SAF) and government militias are conducting a large offensive on the rebel positions in eastern and western Jebel Marra in North and Central Darfur states.
The attacks are targeting the positions controlled by the different factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) in the mountainous area which located in the center of the troubled region.
OCHA said the actual number of displaced people could be higher than 36,000 people as they are not authorised to reach civilians due to the ongoing fighting in Jebel Marra areas.
Dujarric said that most of the new arrivals came to the ZamZam and Shagra camps, near El-Fasher where aid workers provide them with the basic humanitarian assistance.
(ST)