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UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL
FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS CONCERNED ABOUT SITUATION IN DARFUR, BY CAROLINE PATTON:
11/09/2008
(MaximsNews Network)
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UNITED
NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / 11
September 2008 --
With fighting once
again spreading across Darfur, UN officials are worried about not only the fate
of the millions of people in the area, including hundreds of thousands who had
to flee their homes, but also about the future of humanitarian operations given
the recent spate of violence against aid vehicles.
John
Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief
Coordinator, yesterday discussed the renewed
conflict in northern part of western
Sudan
and attacks by Sudanese government troops.
There
have also been accounts of bombing of
villages in
North Darfur
by government planes. This is especially
disquieting because the two villages
reported to have been targets, Birmaza and
Disa are centers for the access to medical
supplies and treatment, water, and many
other necessities and are a crossroads for
trade.
However,
Sudan
’s government has told UN-African Union
peacekeepers from UNAMID that it is not
conducting operations in the area but this
has been belied by sightings of troops with
extensive weaponry, army vehicles, and other
military provisions. UNAMID says there have
also been more helicopters and planes
belonging to the Sudanese armed forces seen
in the region than usual.
The
mission has not, however, officially said
that there are clashes ongoing between the
government and the opposition forces but
said that the evidence indicated that this
is the case. UNAMID has so far been unable
to end its forces into the area because of
the precarious security conditions.
Mr.
Holmes has urged all parties to stop
fighting and show their willingness to sit
down and negotiate an end to a conflict that
has continued for over five years. He has
also made clear that they must comply with
the obligations placed on them by
international law, including requirements
that they not attack noncombatants and allow
humanitarian personnel to reach those who
require help.
Already
unrest has spread through not only North
Darfur but also the Jebel Marra area, which
is part of several different states in
Darfur
, and has impeded, and forced the suspension
of, the delivery of international
assistances in some cases. As a result, some
450,000 people are negatively impacted.
Operations
in
Western Sudan
may meet the same fate if attacks on UN
vehicles transporting vital food and other
supplies continue. The
United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)
and other UN agencies have had more than 100
trucks seized so far in 2008 and an even
larger number have been attacked and had the
provisions they were carrying stolen. Around
70 of the vehicles have not yet been found
and 43 of the drivers.
Currently,
more than three million people receive food
through these initiatives each month. But
with few drivers willing to take the risk,
it has become difficult for the WFP to get
food and provisions to those who need them
and rations have been reduced since May
because of shortages in available food. The
reduction in aid will become a total
cessation if the violence is not curbed and
some security reestablished.
Monika
Midel, WFP Deputy Representative in
Sudan
, told the international community
yesterday, “Repeated and targeted attacks
on food convoys are making it
extraordinarily difficult and dangerous for
us to feed hungry people” and “Should
these attacks continue, the situation will
become intolerable – to the point that we
will have to suspend operations in some
areas of
Darfur
.”
The
severity of the situation is shown by the
fact that just last week the NGO German Agro
Action (GAA) stopped giving out food to
450,000 people in
North Darfur
due to the unstable and dangerous
environment. September is already a time in
which humanitarian food assistance is
critical because the supplies from the
previous year’s harvest have been
exhausted.
Another
consequence was shown by the outbreak of a
food riot near an internally displaced
persons camp last week that left one person
dead and six hurt. It was precipitated by a
shortage of sorghum due to problems and risk
in bringing in supplies.
The
WFP has also said that it “urge[s…groups
who have seized trucks and drivers to
release them, unharmed. At stake are
thousands of people in
Darfur
, who are reliant on the food lifeline the
relief truck convoys provide.”
--- Caroline
Patton
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