Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service)- At least 10 million people are unable to receive aid from humanitarian organisations because of 20 conflicts in different parts of the world. This was said by Jan Egeland UN co-ordinator for emergency aid who warned that the situation in Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo is particularly serious. In the western Sudan region of Darfur where since February civil war has intensified, temporary estimates of the number of people involved are horrifying: 10,000 dead, one million internally displaced persons and 200,000 refugees in neighbouring Chad. Whole villages devastated, crops burned, animals stolen, massacres and rapes. Unheard of violence to the point that many international observers including the United Nations speak of ethnic cleansing.
In Darfur the regular army flanked by pro-government local militia groups is fighting two rebel movements demanding more attention for the region which they claim is marginalised by the central government in Khartoum.
Most humanitarian organisations still find it difficult to operate in Darfur, but they are very active in bordering Chad where they give assistance to Sudanese refugees. “There are at least 93,000 Sudanese refugees in camps set up by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees UNHCR in Chad at a security distance from the border with Sudan ” UNHCR says in a statement sent to Fides. UNHCR hopes before the rain season sets in, to transfer the refugees from border zones. Some15,000 are being moved from Ade to a camp at Djabal where there are already 2,500 people. “In this area rains are still sporadic but operations must be accelerated before rains intensify and roads become impracticable” the statement says. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 15/6/2004 righe 28 parole 329)
