One million people at risk in Darfur: UN
Thursday, 26 March 2009
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 25 (CNN): More than one million people in Darfur are at risk of losing food, water and shelter in coming months, following the expulsion of international aid groups by Sudan's government, the United Nations' chief humanitarian coordinator said Tuesday.
A doctor with Médecins Sans Frontières (Medics without Borders) helps a sick child in a Darfur refugee camp.
A Doctors without Borders medic helps a sick child in a Darfur refugee camp.
The statement by coordinator John Holmes comes after a joint U.N.-Sudanese assessment of the situation.
The information was gathered from March 11-18 in hopes of stemming further troubles in Darfur after Sudan's government expelled 13 international relief organizations from the wartorn region.
The announcement came on the same day that President Omar al-Bashir, now an indicted war criminal, ignored the threat of arrest by traveling abroad to Eritrea. Also Tuesday, a Sudanese staffer working for a Canadian relief group was shot dead in Darfur.
A full report of the assessment will be released soon, according to the U.N., but an executive summary and recommendations were made available on Tuesday.
"While a significant effort is being made by the government, by the U.N., by the NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] which are left, to plug some of the immediate gaps in these areas, these are at the same time, 'Band-Aid' solutions, not long term solutions," Holmes said.
The U.N. estimates that 1.5 million people in Darfur are dependent on healthcare support, 1.1 million need regular food aid, and another 1 million are in need of clean drinking water.
The summary released Tuesday said the World Food Programme, which is still allowed to operate in Sudan, is carrying out a one-time-only distribution program in March and April, but that new partners will be needed to continue delivering food after April.
After the International Criminal Court charged Bashir with war crimes and crimes against humanity on March 4, Khartoum expelled 13 international aid agencies and revoked the permits of three organizations in the country.
Bashir-the first sitting head of state to be charged with war crimes by the court-has continued to say that humanitarian efforts in the country should be "Sudanized."
Holmes said that 13,000 to 14,000 aid workers in the region already were Sudanese nationals.
Holmes said the cooperation and technical help from the Sudanese government on the assessment was a good step forward. But he called it "only the first of many steps if the people in Darfur are not going to suffer major consequences from these expulsions."
A doctor with Médecins Sans Frontières (Medics without Borders) helps a sick child in a Darfur refugee camp.
A Doctors without Borders medic helps a sick child in a Darfur refugee camp.
The statement by coordinator John Holmes comes after a joint U.N.-Sudanese assessment of the situation.
The information was gathered from March 11-18 in hopes of stemming further troubles in Darfur after Sudan's government expelled 13 international relief organizations from the wartorn region.
The announcement came on the same day that President Omar al-Bashir, now an indicted war criminal, ignored the threat of arrest by traveling abroad to Eritrea. Also Tuesday, a Sudanese staffer working for a Canadian relief group was shot dead in Darfur.
A full report of the assessment will be released soon, according to the U.N., but an executive summary and recommendations were made available on Tuesday.
"While a significant effort is being made by the government, by the U.N., by the NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] which are left, to plug some of the immediate gaps in these areas, these are at the same time, 'Band-Aid' solutions, not long term solutions," Holmes said.
The U.N. estimates that 1.5 million people in Darfur are dependent on healthcare support, 1.1 million need regular food aid, and another 1 million are in need of clean drinking water.
The summary released Tuesday said the World Food Programme, which is still allowed to operate in Sudan, is carrying out a one-time-only distribution program in March and April, but that new partners will be needed to continue delivering food after April.
After the International Criminal Court charged Bashir with war crimes and crimes against humanity on March 4, Khartoum expelled 13 international aid agencies and revoked the permits of three organizations in the country.
Bashir-the first sitting head of state to be charged with war crimes by the court-has continued to say that humanitarian efforts in the country should be "Sudanized."
Holmes said that 13,000 to 14,000 aid workers in the region already were Sudanese nationals.
Holmes said the cooperation and technical help from the Sudanese government on the assessment was a good step forward. But he called it "only the first of many steps if the people in Darfur are not going to suffer major consequences from these expulsions."