HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN WESTERN SUDAN AMONG WORLD’S WORST AS INSECURITY ESCALATES, SAYS UN EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN WESTERN SUDAN AMONG WORLD’S WORST AS INSECURITY

ESCALATES, SAYS UN EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

NEW YORK, 5 December (OCHA) -- The situation in the Western Darfur region of the Sudan continues to deteriorate, with insecurity now reaching unprecedented levels.  “The humanitarian situation in Darfur has quickly become one of the worst in the world”, said Jan Egeland, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator.  “Access to people in need is blocked by the parties in conflict and now, as the need for aid grows, stocks of relief materials are dwindling.”

Fighting between forces loyal to the Government of the Sudan and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), which escalated in March 2003, has driven more than 670,000 people from their homes.  Some 70,000 of them fled across the border into Chad, where they lack basic supplies.  More than 200,000 people had earlier been displaced in Darfur.  In the few areas that are accessible to humanitarian workers, displaced persons lack adequate food, shelter, water and sanitation.  For example, at one camp in south Darfur, over 12 per cent of displaced children are moderately malnourished and more than 2 per cent are severely malnourished.  The supply of water is inadequate, resulting in poor personal hygiene and heightening the risk that disease will spread.  Thousands have already died as a direct result of conflict and disease. 

The United Nations estimates that only 7 per cent of the overall estimated water needs in the Darfur region have been covered, while about a quarter of the overall needs for medicines and vaccinations have been met.  Moreover, about 30,000 pit latrines are needed, but aid agencies have so far been able to provide only a few hundred.  “I remind combatants of their obligation to minimize the impact of their hostilities on civilian populations, in accordance with international law”, Mr. Egeland said.  In several locations where internally displaced persons are staying, aid agencies lack sufficient food and medical supplies.  More than 30,000 metric tons of food supplies are needed to cover the needs of the current displaced population for the coming three months, of which about 5,000 metric tons have been delivered.  “Additional supplies are in the pipeline, but unless urgent additional funding is received, a pipeline break is possible at the end of this month”, Mr. Egeland said.  Both the World Food Program (WFP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) foresee a break in their delivery pipelines during the next few months.  Lack of presence and the poor operational capacity of agencies on the ground, as well as lack of funding, have caused the current shortfalls.

Access to both rebel-held and government-controlled areas within the Sudan continues to be denied or constrained by restrictions on travel permits and insecurity caused by militia activity and banditry.  Trucks carrying aid have been attacked and relief workers have been held by armed groups.  “I urge the Government and the militias to take all possible steps to allow humanitarian workers to safely deliver aid to people who desperately need it.  Parties to the conflict should honour the agreement they signed in September, which guaranteed aid workers safe and unimpeded access to people in need.”

On 15 September 2003, the United Nations launched the Greater Darfur Special Initiative, which aims to provide accelerated humanitarian relief while also addressing the underlying causes of the conflict through peace-building, rehabilitation and development.  Of the $22.8 million requested by the United Nations for this initiative, pledges and contributions of $12 million have been received.  “I ask donors to urgently provide emergency funding to avert a break in the food supply pipeline in the next month as well as a similar break in the pipeline of health supplies in the coming months”, Mr. Egeland said.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHA New York, tel.:  917 367 5126, mobile:  917 892 1679; Elisabeth Byrs, OCHA Geneva, tel.:  41 22 917 2653, mobile:  41(0) 79 472 4570.

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