Displaced living in squalor

2004-02-26 16:51

Nairobi - International medical charity, Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) warned Thursday of worsening conditions for newly displaced people in western Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region.

"Nearly 17 000 people have recently gathered in Krenik and Sisi, northwest of Mornay in Sudan's Darfur region, where they have no access to drinking water and there is no enough food or medical assistance for them to survive," the statement released in Nairobi on Thursday said.

Explaining that MSF is ready to send humanitarian teams to the area, the aid group warned that "without urgent medical, food and sanitation assistance, these people's lives are threatened".

"Without immediate, large-scale support from other aid organisations, the already alarmimg situation in Darfur will continue to deterioriate, as more children are admitted for treatment every day and the teams are reporting a marked increase in the degree of malnutrition in the past two months," it said.

Economic neglect

"There is an imminent risk that the nutritional situation will deteriorate even further," it added.

Since February 2003, western Sudan's Darfur region bordering Chad has been the theatre of vicious clashes between the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and government forces backed by local militias.

The rebellion, one of several in Sudan, Africa's largest nation, erupted in February over alleged economic neglect of Darfur region by the government and at least 3 000 people have since been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced by the fighting.

Fighting has intensified since a third round of negotiations failed in the Chadian capital, Ndjamena, in mid-December. Two ceasefires mediated by Chad have broken down.

- AFP