MSF overwhelmed in Sudan
2004-02-18 09:50
Nairobi - UN agencies began urgently airlifting relief supplies into eastern Chad and western Sudan on Tuesday to help more than 600 000 Sudanese lacking food, water and medical supplies due to fighting, private aid agencies said.
Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, said its medical team was overwhelmed with patients who were either wounded in the fighting in western Sudan or were suffering from hunger-related diseases.
The organisation's six-person medical team in Chad has treated more than 50 wounded Sudanese in the past few days, the group said in a statement. Doctors identified 258 severely malnourished and 1 190 moderately malnourished children, but were only able to treat 494 of them.
Refugee camps
Ron Redmond of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said a large cargo plane was beginning daily flights to deliver plastic sheeting and other equipment to build refugee camps for the Sudanese.
The refugees are spread over a 600km stretch of the Chad-Sudan border and need to be moved into camps away from the fighting, Redmond added.
The World Food Programme has begun airlifting food to the refugees, a spokesperson in Rome said. The first flight carried 13 tons of high-energy biscuits over the weekend and will continue this week, a press release said.
The area is mostly desert or arid mountains with little food or water. The Sudanese began fleeing their villages in December when fighting escalated between the government and three rebels groups led by the Sudanese Liberation Army.
Catastrophic mortality rates
"Many of the displaced are living in makeshift shelters near riverbeds, or wadis, that are almost completely dried up because it is the middle of the dry season," the MSF statement said. "MSF field teams notice catastrophic mortality rates within the displaced populations (more than two per 10 000 per day), related to both the displacement and the especially critical living conditions of the people."
The 12-month-old rebellion is being waged by groups seeking autonomy for Darfur province, which the rebels say has been neglected for years by the government. Hundreds of people have been killed in the fighting and 600 000 have fled their homes.
The United Nations and other relief organisations had complained the Sudanese government was blocking the delivery of aid to the stricken people inside the country. The government defended its restrictions, saying the area was too insecure, but it recently allowed the agencies back to Darfur.
The situation in Darfur has deteriorated even as rebels in southern Sudan neared a comprehensive agreement to end the 21-year civil war there. Talks began on Tuesday in neighbouring Kenya, but do not include the rebels in Darfur.
- AP