Sudan: Convoy to help 100 000 displaced
2013-02-04 11:50
Khartoum - A convoy carrying blankets, water and other supplies began a
days-long journey on Sunday to deliver emergency assistance in Sudan's Darfur
where about 100 000 people have been affected by recent violence, the UN said.
"We have sent out a further 100 metric tons of assistance," Damian
Rance, of the United Nations humanitarian agency (OCHA), told AFP. "It
started rolling this morning, I believe."
Amnesty International says Sudanese security officers were reportedly
involved in the gold mining-related attacks earlier this month that killed up
to 200 people and led to the massive displacement across a wide area of North
Darfur state's Jebel Amir district.
Rance said the number displaced or severely affected in this one incident is
close to the figure for those displaced throughout Darfur all last year.
"I think the sheer scale of it is significant," he said.
Aid
Aid trucks will need four or five days, travelling over rough terrain, to
cross more than 250km from the state capital El Fasher to El Sireaf where
children are sleeping outside in the desert, Rance said.
"In an open desert area, it does get quite cold," he said.
The aid also includes health and nutrition supplies, animal feed and
vaccines.
OCHA, citing figures from the government's Humanitarian Aid Commission, said
the largest group of 65 000 newly homeless are in El Sireaf, where many have
crowded into schools and other public buildings.
People fled with their livestock, which has put significant pressure on
available grazing and led to the deaths of animals, OCHA reported.
The 100 tons of new aid will complement more than 600 tons of relief,
including food for more than 60 000 people, which the UN and its partners had
already delivered.
Conflict
Fighting began on 5 January between members of the Beni Hussein tribe and
another Arab group, the Rezeigat, when a Rezeigat leader who is an officer in
Sudan's Border Guard force apparently laid claim to a gold-rich area in Beni
Hussein territory, Amnesty said.
The two tribes have reached an agreement to end the conflict, state-linked
media reported on Saturday.
More than one million people were already living in camps for the displaced
in Darfur, an area roughly the size of France.
A decade-long rebellion has been compounded by inter-Arab violence, banditry
and tribal fighting.
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal
Court for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity allegedly committed
in Darfur.
