Darfur Demands Urgent Repsonse
Tuesday, 30 January 2007
Tom Arnold, CEO of Concern, says the humanitarian crisis in Darfur is worsening and unless security improves, we could be faced with a long-term human tragedy.
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The UN estimates that over the past six months an additional 250,000 people in Darfur have been displaced as a result of fighting. While most of this displacement occurred in North and South Darfur, Mr Arnold met newly displaced people in West Darfur who had fled their villages following attacks from militia.
Twelve aid workers have been killed since last July and a further five are missing. The growing insecurity is hindering access for agencies to deliver aid.
In the past week, the UN Country Team issued an unprecedented statement saying that if the situation continues as it is, "the humanitarian operation and the welfare of the beneficiaries it aims to support will be irreversibly jeopardised."
Mr Arnold said that in addition to examining Concern's programme in West Darfur, he had spoken to a number of displaced people and local leaders of two camps. "My overall impression was of a growing sense of hopelessness. People are afraid to go outside the camps for fear of being attacked. One local leader said they were living in an open prison. I met nobody who said they were willing to return to their villages without a major improvement in security."
Mr Arnold acknowledged that in the camps he had visited, there was good cooperation between the Sudanese government, the UN and aid agencies. Government officials said they were working to increase security for the population and that, in their opinion, the situation within West Darfur was generally stable.
However, Mr Arnold said that the view of many of the UN and aid agencies was that unless there was a significant improvement in security, the humanitarian situation would worsen in 2007. These agencies believed that for such an improvement to take place, urgent political action was required at two levels; within Sudan and between Sudan and the international community.
This would require a meaningful peace process between the government and the non-signatories of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). Adherence by all sides to the recently announced 60 day ceasefire would be an important first step in this process.
Another important step should be the early implementation of the decision by the government of Sudan and the UN for the deployment of the AU/UN hybrid force to increase security and improve the protection of the civilian population.
Mr Arnold concluded, "Unless there is increased recognition, within Sudan and internationally, of the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, we will be faced with a huge long term human tragedy. The only way to prevent this is for urgent political action to improve security in the short term and to start a meaningful longer term peace process."
