UNITED NATIONS RAPID RESPONSE TEAM ARRIVES IN DARFUR, SUDAN TO ASSESS HUMANITARIAN NEEDS

UNITED NATIONS RAPID RESPONSE TEAM ARRIVES IN DARFUR, SUDAN

TO ASSESS HUMANITARIAN NEEDS

NEW YORK, 18 February (OCHA) -- A 13-member United Nations Rapid Response Team has now arrived in Nyala, El Geneina and El Fasher, the three capitals of Darfur region of the Sudan.  As the team assesses humanitarian needs in and around the capitals, United Nations agencies are delivering and pre-positioning food and other supplies for 250,000 internally displaced persons.  These include food, water, medical supplies, plastic sheeting and an anti-meningitis immunization campaign for 60,000 children.

“This assistance is long overdue”, said Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland.  “However, we are still not reaching the majority of those in need”, he warned.

The Darfur region of the Sudan remains highly volatile for civilians and the humanitarian community.  The security situation outside the three capital towns throughout Darfur is of particular concern.  Access to most areas outside the three capitals is impaired by daily incidents of militarized violence on major roads routes.  These include systematic disruption of railroads and communication lines.  Recent concerns over mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) -- a new problem for Darfur -- add to the difficulty of reaching people in need. 

“Ironically, at the moment we receive access clearances, insecurity on the ground precludes us from accessing populations in need.  The parties must immediately cease hostilities, so that internally displaced persons and refugees in Chad can voluntarily and safely return to their homes and start to re-build a peaceful Darfur”, said Ambassador Tom Vraalsen, United Nations Special Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs for the Sudan. 

Ambassador Vraalsen arrived in the Sudan on 12 February.  His visit was instrumental in ensuring the prompt issuance of travel permits from the authorities.  In both Khartoum and Darfur, he urged the authorities to keep their promises for unimpeded access to the populations in need.  His mission follows up on the promise made on February 9 by the President of the Republic of the Sudan, His Excellency Mr. Omer Hassan Ahmed Al Bashir, to provide access to aid workers so that they can reach millions of suffering civilians in Darfur region.

Throughout Darfur, those affected by the conflict include 700,000 internally displaced persons and 110,000 refugees in neighbouring Chad.  For months, most have remained beyond the reach of agencies trying to provide essential humanitarian aid.

Since the fighting started between rebel groups, militias and the Government of the Sudan a year ago, the United Nations has consistently received reports of systematic raids against civilian populations.  These attacks have reportedly included burning and looting of villages, large-scale killings, and abductions.  Humanitarian workers have also been targeted, with staff being abducted and relief trucks looted.

The Darfur region covers roughly one-fifth of the Sudan’s territory and is home to 6 million people.  The Sudan, Africa’s largest country, is also home to its longest running conflict.  It is estimated that more than 2 million people have died because of the Sudan’s conflict and that 4 million people have been driven from their homes.

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

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