Highlights
- WFP assists nearly 2.5 million people in March
- Government/UN sign new joint communiqué on Darfur
- WFP shifts from emergency to recovery in the South/Three Areas
- Violence in CAR and Chad result in refugee influx
- WFP supports 4,500 demobilized soldiers in the South
- WFP releases 2006 Country Programme year end report
- Humanitarian Air Service in need of critical funding
Overview
DARFUR
Insecurity continues to impede aid work in Darfur
The security situation continues to deteriorate throughout the Darfur region with a significant increase in attacks in March, some of it directed at the humanitarian community. Tension between government factions also intensified towards the end of March, following the killing of a SLA-MM commander in South Darfur. Overall, insecurity has disrupted humanitarian operations in some parts of Darfur, resulting in an estimated 56,000 people not reached in March.
Late March 2007, WFP Cooperating Partner, GAA, operating in North Darfur, suspended activities as a result of two carjacking incidents and a death threat. In South Darfur, a WFP and Samaritan Purse mission was ambushed while conducting an assessment in the outskirts of Nyala. In a similar incident, a WFP and CARE convoy, traveling from Um Dukhum to Muhjar, West Darfur, was attacked and passengers in the WFP vehicle were robbed.
Government of Sudan and UN sign a new joint communiqué to address impediments affecting assistance in Darfur
WFP welcomes the joint communiqué between the Government of Sudan and the UN, signed in March, which aims to cut bureaucratic "impediments" restricting the aid community's freedom of movement and access to areas of operations. It is hoped that full and timely implementation of actions stipulated in the communiqué take place. During the month, humanitarian agencies continued to face access problems into Darfur. The UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sir John Holmes, also experienced access problems having been denied access to Kassab Camp in Kutum, North Darfur, during his visit to the region in March.
New influx of refugees arrive in Darfur fleeing violence in CAR and Chad
Refugees fleeing escalating violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Chad continue to arrive in Darfur. According to the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), about 5,200 refugees from CAR and Chad arrived in Um Dokhon, West Darfur over the past two months. WFP and CARE are conducting house-to-house registration and headcount to determine needs and provide assistance. Similarly in Kulbus, West Darfur, an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 refugees were reported to have arrived Chad.