A Million Face Hunger As Sudan Fighting Continues

by Sanjay Suri

(IPS) LONDON -- With violence still continuing, a food crisis now threatens more than a million people displaced by the armed conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

"It is a very serious crisis and one of the hardest things is that children are being separated from families," Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), James Morris told media representatives in London Tuesday.

The refugees include about 34,000 children, "many of them separated from their parents," Morris said. "This is a very sad picture, very painful to watch."

More than 100,000 Sudanese refugees have fled across the border to Chad, and the WFP is currently engaged in plans to look after their needs. But resources are scarce and if the number of the refugees was to double, "then it would become increasingly difficult for us to deal with the crisis," Morris said.

"This is one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with so many people in the most belligerent way being chased from their homes," Morris said. "Everything has been taken away from these people. This is tragic."

It is now becoming urgent for the WFP to "pre-position tons and tons of food before the rainy season starts," Morris said. "It would then be difficult to get food to the camps."

Morris was speaking after leading a high level humanitarian mission to Sudan and then travelling to visit refugee camps in eastern Chad.

Morris travelled to Darfur April 28-30 as the leader of a high level UN mission. The aim of the mission was to gather first-hand knowledge of the humanitarian situation in Darfur, and to assess the scale of the crisis.

During his visit, he held discussions with Sudanese government officials, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, and representatives of donor nations to identify ways to improve access to Darfur, and to further protect civilians in the region, according to a WFP statement.

The UN mission called upon the government of Sudan to "accelerate its efforts to control armed militias, provide security and protection for displaced people, and to facilitate access for humanitarian agencies."

Repeated attacks by militia including the burning of villages, widespread looting and systematic destruction of livelihoods, have left displaced people destitute. Local social services, such as health care and education, have collapsed, the WFP statement said.

This situation is having serious consequences for delivering food aid. The cease-fire signed between rebels and government forces April 8 has brought some relief, but the humanitarian crisis continues, Morris said.

But the WFP head saw reason for hope. "We had an excellent meeting with the donor community," he said. "We also then asked the government for its support to quickly make decisions about applications for visas, for travel permits, and the importing of vehicles or other equipment we may need. We made clear to the government how important their quick response to these requests is."

Morris appealed to the international community to continue its support for humanitarian operations for the Sudanese refugees. "WFP will work very hard to make sure there is enough food here for these people to stay alive," he said.

According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, 110,000 Sudanese -- mostly women and children -- have crossed the border into Chad. As of this week, 50,000 have been relocated to refugee camps, and the number is increasing daily.

To date, the local population has shown remarkable hospitality to the refugees, the WFP says in a statement. But "WFP is facing considerable logistical challenges in Chad to address the plight of the refugees," it says.

"The road infrastructure is extremely poor, and the agency is placing emergency food rations in its warehouses near the camps in eastern Chad before the rainy season begins in late May or early June, and totally blocks access to the region by road."

The children who have made it to the refugee camps are the relatively fortunate ones. "Amnesty International is receiving lists of hundreds of civilians killed and villages destroyed," it said in a statement earlier. "We now also have names of children said to have been abducted by government-supported militias."

The government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in the south had signed an agreement on sharing oil and other revenues. But conflicts continued between government forces and their supporters and two armed opposition groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

Amnesty says most of the killing and destruction has been carried out by the government-supported militias known as the Janjawid. The thousands who fled towards Chad were escaping government forces.

Children have been a particular target of these groups. "At least 12,000 people, mostly children or young men from southern ethnic groups were abducted by northern militias supported by the Sudan Government."

The separation of children from their parents in the refugee camps in Chad now, and the disappearance of many children present a new humanitarian problem. This problem may take years to address, but the WFP is struggling to meet the immediate food needs of those who made it to the camps.

Since April 2003 a mass exodus has taken place from the areas in Darfur which have been attacked. More than 700,000 people have fled their homes, mostly to other towns in Darfur while about 100,000 have crossed the border to Chad.

The high number of refugees within Darfur could also soon be in need of emergency aid.

The government in Sudan wants to impose Islamic Sharia law on non-Muslims. The African or non-Arab Fur, Masaalit, and Zaghawa communities, from which the rebels are drawn, have been the main targets of the government forces.