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     Secretary-General Kofi Annan interacts with one of the 30,000 inhabitants who have recently begun to return to the devastated town of Labado under the protection of the African Union, as she talks about the air attack that had forced her family to flee. (UN Photo #NICA 76986 by Evan Schneider)

     Secretary-General Kofi Annan interacts with women of the Kalma Camp, where more than 100,000 internally displaced people are living. (UN Photo #NICA 76984 by Evan Schneider)

         UNITED NATIONS - 1 June 2005   www.MaximsNews.com / -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan traveled last week to the Sudan to make an urgent call for action to the international community to help save millions of lives threatened by the ongoing violence in Sudan. 

Together with African Union President Alpha Oumar Konare, the Secretary-General called for increased support for security and peace efforts in Sudan – a mission which is vital to supporting the UN’s extensive relief activities there.

On Friday and Saturday, he traveled to Khartoum, the Darfur region and then to Rumbek in southern Sudan. 

The Secretary-General returned to Darfur to see first hand one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and the progress being made in meeting the people’s needs on the ground.  

And while progress has certainly been made in the last year, much work still needs to be done.   

With an estimated 2.62 million persons now affected by the conflict in the Darfur region alone, the situation in Sudan remains tenuous.  

Despite increasing levels of insecurity on the ground, the United Nations continues to make strides to provide badly needed humanitarian relief and security on the ground.  

The UN has initiated a massive humanitarian operation which today includes more than 11,200 humanitarian workers in the region, delivering food, water, shelter and other lifesaving relief to as many as 1.8 million people. 

Some of the vital and life-saving activities undertaken by the United Nations include: 

·        The World Food Program (WFP) provides food to 1.6 million people in the Darfur region.  In 2004, WFP sent a total of 186,000 tons of food to the region.

·        Shelter and non-food items have been distributed to 80% of displaced persons, including improved access to safe water for 1.42 million people in Darfur and access to sanitation activities for 1.25 million people.  

·        Free access to health care has reached local populations and displaced persons via the establishment of seven state and rural hospitals.  

·        National immunization campaigns to eradicate polio are underway with the assistance of UNICEF, WHO, and other UN and NGO partners.  Each of the campaigns thus far has reached between 5.8 million and 6.1 million children under the age of five.  

·        UNICEF has provided support to 156 primary health facilities and 32 mobile teams including essential drugs, cold chain materials, malaria treatments and bednets, and training and technical expertise, which has reached approximately 1.7 million beneficiaries.

However, the valiant efforts of UN humanitarian workers will only fully succeed by improving the security situation in Sudan and securing a lasting peace.  

Reports of organized violence including rape, kidnapping, and banditry continue at considerable rates.  

In order to monitor and support the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the UN has launched a major peacekeeping operation which includes 10,000 military personnel from 10 countries.  

Some UN peacekeeping troops have already begun to deploy, arriving in southern Sudan in early May.

In addition, the UN had made significant efforts to better address human rights violations and criminal activities in Sudan.  

By the end of June, more than 60 human rights officers are expected to be monitoring potential abuses in Darfur.  

And in March, the Security Council passed Resolutions 1591 and 1593 which strengthened the arms embargo and referred the most egregious crimes to the International Criminal Court (ICC), including 51 government and military officials suspected of crimes against humanity.

In the last year, the world has become aware of the dire situation in Sudan but increased assistance from the international community will be vital to reaching desperate victims of violence and maintaining a fragile peace.  

This will include another $350 million in aid to help more than 3 million people survive this year and more troops and training for the African Union force protecting the people of Darfur. 

The United States can help most by ensuring that the humanitarian effort is fully funded and relief workers have safe access to areas in the most urgent need. 

It is certain that the road to peace in Sudan will be a long and hard fought battle.   

I urge you to support the efforts ofthe United Nations and other relief organizations, by informing your readers about the ongoing plight of the Sudanese people. 

Only with a concerted effort by the entire global community will we be able to one day realize the goal of a peaceful, safe, and free Sudan.  

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Timothy Wirth's Columns in MaximsNews

Kofi Annan in the Sudan  1 June 2005

Hearing on UN Reform; Tim Wirth Outlines Five Key Areas for UN Reform; Calls for U.S. Leadership  19 May 2005

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THE HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN DARFUR 

(Prepared by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)

I.          Summary of the humanitarian situation in Darfur 

As of 1 April 2005, the total affected population in Darfur was estimated at 2.62 million, of which1.96 million are internally displaced persons. Based on UN and NGO assessments, the total affected population increased by more than 170,000 since 1 March 2005; 61% of this increase is additional IDPs.  In addition, an estimated 200,000 refugees have fled across the border to neighboring Chad. 

The humanitarian response to the Darfur crisis has expanded dramatically since early 2004. The estimated affected population on 1 April 2004 was 1.1 million persons with only 228 aid workers operating in the region; a year later, on 1 April 2005, with the affected population having doubled to 2.62 million people, the total number of humanitarian workers in the region had increased to more than 11,200, including more than 900 international staff.    

Despite shortcomings and limitations due to increasing insecurity and funding shortfalls, the humanitarian response has continued to improve. However, this has also resulted in a pull factor effect in which scattered rural communities are increasingly moving to larger gatherings for security and humanitarian reasons, thus further increasing the number of displaced.  The number of affected populations that has received sustained humanitarian assistance in the lifesaving sectors of food, water, sanitation, shelter and non-food items and health services has remained steady since the beginning 2005 with roughly 60 to 75% coverage.

II.        Access and Security 

The gains in access and increase in humanitarian assistance have been overshadowed by increasing levels of insecurity on the ground, including a series of highway robberies targeting humanitarian goods and personnel.  Detentions of humanitarian convoys have also increased since mid-March.

Trends reminiscent of the situation in Darfur in late 2003 and early 2004 have also emerged, with particularly worrying indications of an increase in travel permit and visa restrictions reported. This development compounded– especially in south Darfur - by systematic arrests, false and hostile accusations against humanitarian workers through national media outlets and outright attacks is jeopardizing the humanitarian achievements thus far.  The Sudanese Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement also continue to take commercial, private and non-governmental organization vehicles at gunpoint.

These developments notwithstanding, the scope of the humanitarian operations has continued to expand.  The World Health Organization is preparing for the second retrospective mortality survey of conflict-affected persons in Darfur. The survey will be conducted in May, and the results are expected to be available in late June or early July.

III.       Protection  

The protection situation for the civilian population of Darfur has not improved and some areas have experienced a significant deterioration. On 8 March, MSF released a report with gruesome accounts of widespread rape sexual violence in Darfur.  In the report, the agency noted that between October 2004 and mid-February 2005, MSF doctors in various locations in South and West Darfur had treated almost 500 women and girls who were raped. MSF believes that these numbers reflect only a fraction of the total number of victims due to the reluctance of many women to report the crime and seek treatment.  During his visit to Darfur shortly after the release of the report, the UN Emergency Relief

Coordinator, Jan Egeland, supported the report and its conclusions and raised the concerns at high level meeting with GoS authorities.

Following the attack on 7 April on the village of Khor Abeche in south Darfur, the World Food Program conducted an immediate food distribution to some 5,000 internally displaced persons hiding north of the village. Much more assistance is needed and humanitarian agencies have requested a strengthened AU presence in the area.

IV.       Returns and Relocation 

There has been some progress in the voluntary relocation of internally displaced persons. There are also reports, however, that the local government is contravening the letter and the spirit of the agreements on voluntary return, for example by offering incentives to internally displaced persons to return or relocate.

V.        Funding 

As of 1 May 2005, a total of US$ 617 million has been recorded against the Work Plan of 2005, equivalent to 40% of the total requirements of about 1.5 million.  About 60.8% of the funds have been allocated to food aid, leaving other sectors such as health, shelter, non-food items, protection, water and sanitation heavily under funded.

(Prepared by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)  

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