France urges international help over Darfur

DAKAR, Senegal, Aug 7, 2004 (PANA) — French Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has called for more international
assistance for the displaced and refugees from
Sudan’s troubled western Darfur region.

Some one million people have been displaced and more
are at risk from disease and starvation following fighting
involving rebel groups and government-backed Janjaweed
militias in a conflict that has reportedly killed more
than 30,000.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said it had distributed
15,000 tons of food, but warned that tens of thousands
of Sudanese in inaccessible places still urgently needed
food.

The French Minister after touring camps for Sudanese
refugees in eastern Chad Friday said the international
community needed to do more to assist the displaced
and refugees.

The US has announced 30 million dollars in emergency food
aid for Darfur, where more than two million people are
expected to need emergency food supplies by October.

The African Union (AU), which already has ceasefire
monitors on ground plans to increase the number of
its peacekeepers to Darfur to 2,000.

France has sent about 200 soldiers and started airlifting
relief supplies to eastern Chad, where some 150,000 Sudanese
refugees have crossed the border to escape the fighting in
Darfur.

Aid workers said the rainy season had already set in
rendering many roads impassable, meaning relief supplies
would have to be transported by air.

After her visit, Alliot-Marie said refugees had food while
sanitary conditions in the camps were not bad, but she
insisted more should be done to provide shelter and hygiene.

The key problem appears to be the shortage of helicopters
to move supplies.

She said Paris alone could not meet all the needs, and
urged other European Union member nations to assist.

The UN Security Council last week passed a strong
resolution warning the Khartoum government to reign
in the Janjaweed within 30 days or face possible
sanctions.

Consequently, Sudan and the UN have concluded a plan to
tackle the Darfur crisis, through measures to improve
security and disarm the pro-government militias, accused
of killing thousands of non-Arab villagers.