Darfur: New violence threatens world’s largest aid response. Half a million people increasingly vulnerable after evacuations of more than 250 staff in ten days. Ceasefire desperately needed, say aid agencies
Darfur: New violence threatens world’s largest aid response. Half a million people increasingly vulnerable after evacuations of more than 250 staff in ten days. Ceasefire desperately needed, say aid agencies
Nearly half a million people have less access to humanitarian assistance as a result of increasing military activity, banditry and direct violence against aid workers in early December. The insecurity led to 250 humanitarian staff, from key locations across Darfur serving some 480,000 people, being temporarily evacuated. Aid workers are facing unprecedented difficulties at a time when humanitarian needs are rising fast, said a group of leading international aid agencies working in the conflict-stricken region.
The agencies – Concern Worldwide, Goal, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam International and World Vision, demanded:
All parties must urgently agree, and maintain, a ceasefire with immediate effect. They must ensure that aid workers are able to reach people in need.
“If the deterioration is allowed to continue, the impact on civilians could be devastating. With new displacements and attacks, the presence of aid agencies is more important than ever. Yet every day brings one huge blow after another to aid efforts,” said Paul Smith-Lomas, Regional Director for Oxfam.
With access to people in need already at its lowest point since mid-2004, five major areas suffered significant withdrawals of staff in the first week of December alone: El Fasher and Kutum in North Darfur; El Daein and Shearia in South Darfur; and Kulbus in West Darfur. Although hopefully temporary, such evacuations are becoming more and more frequent, restricting the massive humanitarian response in a region where nearly four million people are now dependent on aid agencies for essential services such as food, water and healthcare. Humanitarian agencies in eastern Chad are also finding it increasingly difficult to operate.
“The whole region is increasingly complex and uncertain. While we all remain fully committed to helping the people of Darfur, frequent evacuations of programmes are making it incredibly difficult to deliver aid effectively. Blame cannot be laid solely on one particular group. Everyone involved in the conflict must respect humanitarian operations,” said Patty Swahn, the International Rescue Committee’s Regional Director.
Since December 1st violence has spread across the region:
In South Darfur:
· In Shearia, one agency evacuated operations supporting 130,000 people, after staff were assaulted by armed men and three vehicles stolen
· El Daein has recently seen 20,000 new arrivals fleeing fighting, in addition to 30,000 displaced people already there. Yet the agencies that would help them were forced to evacuate as rebels and government troops scaled up offensives
In North Darfur:
· Violence in and around El Fasher prevented aid workers from accessing camps that shelter over 100,000 people
· Agencies have had to evacuate non-essential staff from Kutum, where 140,000 people are being assisted. The surrounding area has seen some of the heaviest fighting and attacks on civilians in recent months
In West Darfur:
· Around Kulbus, escalating violence along the Chad border forced evacuations of aid workers from an area where tens of thousands of people are being assisted
· Aid vehicles have been hijacked and staff violently beaten. A commercial truck contracted to deliver humanitarian supplies was attacked and at least 31 civilian passengers shot and burnt to death
Recent months have seen a steady deterioration in agencies’ ability to reach people in need. In November, one agency was unable to properly access 19 of its 22 programme locations, affecting 175,000 people. In Kalma camp in South Darfur, sheltering 90,000 people, agencies are losing one day’s work a week due to rising violence inside the camp.
Since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement last May, violence against civilians and aid workers has increased and an estimated 200,000 or more newly displaced people have arrived in Darfur’s camps. These camps have been the last source of refuge for many civilians, yet now are increasingly rife with weapons and armed groups. Civilians are suffering doubly – either caught up directly by the violence, or because aid agencies are prevented from providing essential services.
“We have no blankets, no plastic sheeting for shelters, and no security,” said one man recently arrived in Otash camp in South Darfur.
Additional notes:
Incidents impacting upon humanitarian delivery in early December
2nd – Humanitarian vehicle held up by armed men in Jebel Si, West Darfur
3rd – More than 30 aid workers evacuated from Kulbus area in West Darfur, due to violence along the Chad-Darfur border
4th – Humanitarian convoy stopped and looted by armed men in Niteaga, South Darfur
6th – 135 UN and NGO staff withdrawn from El Fasher following increased military activity in and around the town
6th – UN declared Kalma camp in South Darfur a temporary no-go zone for aid workers following shooting inside the camp
7th – Eight aid workers violently beaten and three vehicles stolen in Khor Abeche, South Darfur
8th – Shots fired into the ICRC compound in Kutum in North Darfur, forcing ICRC to evacuate 10 international staff. More than 20 other aid workers also evacuate.
9th – All aid agencies in El Daein in Southeast Darfur are forced to evacuate more than 30 staff due to increased military activity
9th – GOAL announces evacuation of all remaining international staff in Darfur
9th – NGO-contracted commercial truck hijacked at Sirba in West Darfur, with at least 31 civilians killed
11th – Agencies evacuate staff from Shangil Tobai in North Darfur, following nearby fighting
11th – Two humanitarian vehicles hijacked and stolen en route to Muhajeriya in South Darfur
11th – Hijacking of a humanitarian vehicle in Krinjing camp, West Darfur. The driver was taken along with the vehicle
13th – INGO vehicle hijacked outside Geneina airport main road. An increase in carjackings and shooting along the road has left movement to and from the airport extremely dangerous. If the airport becomes out of bounds then all access to Geneina may be prevented, as the surrounding roads are already unsafe.
The UN’s most recent figures of humanitarian access levels in Darfur show more than a third of Darfur is effectively out of bounds to aid agencies. Evacuations and new violence in December mean access levels are now even lower.
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Chad: Hundreds of humanitarian workers temporarily evacuated and aid supply chains interrupted as violence worsens in eastern Chad
A wave of violence has forced the temporary evacuation of over 400 humanitarian staff in eastern Chad in the past two weeks, severely interrupting the provision of humanitarian aid, said international agency Oxfam today. The serious deterioration of security in the region bordering Darfur threatens to cause a major health and food crisis for hundreds of thousands of people.
In the past three weeks, rebel groups and government forces have been fighting in and around several cities in eastern Chad, including some of the most important humanitarian bases, such as Abeche, Goz Beida, Guereda and Biltine. Fighting has interrupted humanitarian activities and aid supply chains. The six refugee camps north of Abeche, sheltering 110,000 men, women and children from Darfur, have been worst affected. Increased insecurity has also led to the UN stopping food aid to 56,000 Chadians who recently fled their villages as a result of interethnic violence.
Around 25 humanitarian staff have suffered serious attacks and three aid agencies’ warehouses have been looted in Abeche and Goz Beida in recent weeks. Tonnes of basic aid, including food, tents, kitchen sets and medical supplies, have been lost. More than 50 humanitarian vehicles have been hijacked this year alone.
As a result, humanitarian agencies have reduced their programmes in eastern Chad to strictly life-saving activities, such as the provision of health care, drinking water and food aid.
Oxfam has temporarily evacuated 16 of their 24 international aid workers from eastern Chad, with some now in the Chadian capital, N’djamena, and others outside the country. The minimum staff required to maintain water supply for 32,000 refugees in two camps in Djabal and Goz Amer, and for some 20,000 Chadians who have fled recent violence in the area remain in eastern Chad.
“Thousands of displaced people in need risk being cut off from life-saving aid as the security situation forces us to evacuate staff,” said Roland Van Hauwermeiren, Oxfam’s Country Programme Manager in Chad. “Though some aid is continuing to reach people, unless we can get back in soon, the situation will start to deteriorate rapidly.”
Oxfam is calling for all parties in the conflict to respect international humanitarian law, requiring safety for civilians and access to assistance from impartial humanitarian agencies. Oxfam is also asking the United Nations to maintain essential humanitarian coordination functions in eastern Chad. A total withdrawal by UN agencies and international NGOs would give free reign to unrest and uncontrolled violence in the region.
Note:
· Humanitarian agencies attend to the needs of 220,000 refugees from Darfur and many of the 90,000 Chadians that fled violence in their villages in the past few months.
· The recent upsurge in interethnic clashes in October and November is generating an increasingly serious humanitarian crisis as civilians are targeted in this violence. In the past two months some 60 villages have been attacked by armed men, causing the death of hundreds of civilians and the displacement of more than 25,000 people who have sought assistance and protection around the refugee camps.