UN: Rhino – Toby Harward, the UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan (Darfur) on Monday expressed his fear that as the war continues, they will see many innocent people in Darfur die from malnutrition and other preventable diseases, unless the amount of aid crossing the border from Chad and those coming across the contact lines from Port Sudan is increased.
Harward’s remarks came at a press conference held at UN headquarters in New York on Monday, in which he participated via video conference from Chad to talk about his recent visit to Darfur, where he spent two weeks with a UN team to explore the possibility of re-establishing a stable and permanent UN presence in Darfur, and to speak with local authorities there.
The UN official said they met tens of thousands of displaced people in Zalingei, the capital of Central Darfur state, and Jebel Marra and its surrounding areas, ‘one of the most inaccessible areas in Darfur’. He noted that those displaced had fled the recent fighting in El Fasher, as well as previous battles across Darfur, as well as displaced people who came from Khartoum and other areas in the east of the country.
‘The situation is very desperate,’ he said. Leaders of the IDP camp in Zalingei told us that some IDPs are surviving on tree leaves, cereal husks and leftover groundnuts. They said that between three and five children die every day, although we are unable to independently confirm these figures.)
Classrooms turned into shelter centers:
The UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan (Darfur) said the IDPs he met in Jebel Marra were begging for basic shelter materials, such as plastic sheeting, floor mats, blankets and mosquito nets, as well as food, nutrition and medical supplies.
‘There are 70 IDPs living in one classroom. Of course, all the classrooms are overcrowded with IDPs. Education has been suspended for a long time).
He said they have received reports from Doctors Without Borders, the International Medical Corps and a number of other NGOs that large numbers of children and vulnerable people are dying in hard-to-reach areas when they cannot reach the few clinics and hospitals that are functioning.
Positive indicators:
The UN official spoke of some positive indicators, noting that many displaced people said they felt safe in Jebel Marra in areas controlled by the Sudan Liberation Movement and Army, led by Abdul Wahid Nur.
‘The host communities are doing a great job, sharing what little food they have with the locals and the newly displaced, even though their food stocks are dwindling very, very quickly,’ he said.
He expressed his hope that if the agricultural season there is successful, this would reduce the numbers of people falling into Stages 5 and 4 of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification according to the latest update released in June.
Another positive development is ‘local truces.’ The local de facto authorities – the RSF, the Sudan Liberation Movement and Army, led by Abdul Wahid Nur, and local militias – have agreed to a truce on a ‘critical’ access road between Nertiti and Zalingei, which now allows people to walk on this road and feel safe enough to carry out agricultural activities there.
