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UN seeks $115m for Darfur
13/04/2004 16:03 - (SA)
United Nations - The United Nations appealed for $115m for humanitarian needs in the troubled Darfur region of western Sudan where the UN humanitarian chief says a scorched-earth campaign of ethnic cleansing is taking place.
UN officials say the money and aid is needed for, among other things, food, medicine, water, sanitation and protection for more than 700 000 people displaced since fighting erupted early last year. The new appeal, launched on Monday, replaces a $23m effort launched in September.
The Sudanese government has denied allegations by UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland and human rights groups that Arab militia groups, reportedly with Sudanese government backing, are engaged in "ethnic cleansing" against Africans in Darfur.
Sudan's Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ibrahim Hamid said on Sunday that the government would welcome a high-level United Nations mission later this month to assess humanitarian needs in Darfur and would set up a committee to work out an emergency relief program.
A 10-member team led by Egeland will visit each of the three regions of Darfur April 18-21, during a 45-day cease-fire signed on Thursday by the government and rebels to allow humanitarian agencies into the area and in an effort to reach a peace agreement.
Earlier this month, Egeland said aid workers had reached only about a third of the needy inside Sudan because of violence and restrictions Sudan's government has placed on access.
In February 2003, two rebel groups - the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement - took up arms, saying they were fighting for a share of power and wealth in Africa's largest country.
The insurgency in Darfur intensified as peace talks between the government and a separate group of southern rebels fighting a 21-year-long civil war have inched toward their conclusion. Those talks are being held in Kenya.
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Monday that field staff from UN agencies and humanitarian organisations have received "credible reports almost daily about widespread atrocities, grave violations of human rights, and forced depopulation of entire areas."
"The targets of the campaign are the region's black African population, especially the Fur, Zaghawas, and Massalit ethnic communities," it said.
On April 2, the United Nations launched a new appeal for over $30m to aid 110 000 Sudanese refugees who fled to neighbouring Chad.
- AP
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