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News/Event Item
UN Official Paints Grim Picture on Darfur Prospects
14 March 2006
By Sudan Tribune/Associated Press
…Jan Egeland said Monday he fears that Darfur is returning to "the abyss" of early 2004 when the region was "the killing fields of this world." In mid-2004 the world woke up to the killings and the UN finally gained access to Darfur, launching one of its largest humanitarian operations ever, which saved many lives, he said at a briefing for two reporters.
But "2006 seems to be bringing us back to 2004," Egeland warned. "At the moment, we are rapidly, unfortunately, losing ground in Darfur. We’re losing ground every day in the humanitarian operation which is the lifeline for more than 3 million people."
The primary reason, he said, is the growing insecurity for tens of thousands of civilians and the 14,000 unarmed humanitarian workers who are facing increasing violence from Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, rebels, government forces and bandits, he said.
As a result, Egeland said, UN relief officials and their partner relief organizations cannot reach more than 300,000 people on the Chad border in western Darfur and the central mountainous region of Jebal Marra because they are too dangerous.
These unreachable areas, he said, "will soon get massively increased mortality because there is nothing else but international assistance" and once food supplies run out malnutrition and disease will increase leading to starvation.
"It’s not happening in a day or two, or a week or two, but it will happen within (a) few weeks we will see that," Egeland said.
Copyright 2006 SudanTribune.com/Associated Press
For the Full Article, visit:
http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=14528
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category: News from Other Sources : General Health News
contributed by Sean Kellem on 15 March 2006
Africa : Sudan
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