WFP helping more people in Darfur despite continuing violence

GENEVA, March 15 (AFP) — The United Nations fed a record 1.6 million people in the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur during the month of February in spite of increased attacks that complicate humanitarian tasks, said a UN spokeswoman.

Teams of women carefully brush up grains of cereals that spilled from bags air dropped by the World Food Programme, August 15, 2004. (AFP).

“Security problems are always huge in Darfur and they keep us from reaching our target of two million people,” said World Food Programme (WFP) spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume.

Berthiaume said that while never before has the WFP helped so many people in the region — an increase of 34 percent from the previous month — its aid convoys are increasingly coming under attack.

Nine vehicles have been stolen in the north of the province since the beginning of March.

Berthiaume said the WFP is trying to find out who is responsible for the attacks, which put its drivers at risk and drive up the costs of its operations.

Last Friday the WFP decided to restrict deliveries in the north.

But the UN agency will need plenty of heavy trucks to move 25,000 tons of supplies in Darfur during the rainy season in July and August.

After rebels in Darfur rose up against Sudan’s Arab-led government, Khartoum turned to proxy militias — the Janjaweed — to put down the rebellion and those militias have been blamed for a scorched-earth campaign of murder, rape and pillage.

Peace talks between the government and the Darfur rebels are at a standstill.

According to a UN official, Darfur’s civil war has caused 180,000 deaths in the last 18 months from hardship, sickness and malnutrition, a figure that does not include victims of direct violence.