Darfur - Humanitarian Emergency Fact Sheet #1, Fiscal Year (FY) 2005

Note: This report updates fact sheet

24 FY 2004, dated September 24, 2004.

Total FY 2004 USG Humanitarian Assistance to Darfur: $193,850,859

Total FY 2004 USG Humanitarian Assistance to Eastern Chad: $61,965,972

Total FY 2004 USG Humanitarian Assistance for the Darfur Emergency: $255,816,831

Total FY 2003 - 2004 USG Humanitarian Assistance for the Darfur Emergency: $257,175,433

CURRENT HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

Security

The U.N. reports that security and protection incidents have recently increased, particularly in North and South Darfur. As a result, displacement of civilians continues in both states.

According to the U.N. Joint Logistics Center (UNJLC), three major transport hubs - El Fasher in North Darfur, Geneina in West Darfur, and El Obeid in Northern Kordofan - have all reported a decrease in rain and a consequent increase in overland access to previously inaccessible areas of Darfur where internally displaced persons (IDPs) have gathered. However, truck drivers continue to report attacks by the opposition Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) along the road from Ed Da'ein to Nyala, South Darfur and the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) has reported bandit attacks near Um Kaddadah in North Darfur.

African Union

On September 29, the Government of Sudan (GOS) stated that it has agreed to allow African Union (AU) forces to monitor the police in IDP camps.

Humanitarian Access

Humanitarian agencies in South Darfur have reported that the GOS is taxing private vehicles used by relief workers when they pass through checkpoints.

Mortality

On September 29, Médecins sans Frontières-Holland released the results of three nutritional and retrospective mortality surveys at different sites in South Darfur. Based on the results of the surveys, the humanitarian situation of IDPs in Kalma Camp and the IDPs and residents of Kass remains critical, and the situation in Muhajeria may be deteriorating as shown by mortality rates above emergency thresholds.

Protection

According to the USAID/Disaster Assistance Response Team (USAID/DART), on September 23, the GOS forcibly relocated a significant number of IDPs that had settled in Bisharia, 2 km south of El Fasher. Representatives of the U.N. visited Bisharia on September 24 and found the IDPs surrounded by armed police. The U.N. representatives negotiated with the police and eventually advised the families to go to Abu Shouk Camp outside of El Fasher. The IDPs reported that after international humanitarian staff left, they were beaten by GOS military, police, and armed militias. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has scheduled a meeting with the GOS to file a complaint on behalf of the Bisharia IDPs that the forced return was a violation of Article 2.1 of the memorandum of understanding that the GOS signed with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) that states: 'The Government of the Republic of Sudan confirms its policy of no involuntary return.'

Health

According to the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO), a potential outbreak of meningitis in Mornei Camp was limited to 2 confirmed cases that were immediately isolated. A recent WHO-led meningitis vaccination campaign conducted in Mornei reached 93 percent of the targeted population.

The ICRC is currently conducting a mass vaccination campaign in South Darfur against measles. The Sudanese Red Crescent Society and the GOS Ministry of Health are supporting the campaign.

Water and Sanitation

The USAID/DART reports that although access to basic water and sanitation has improved significantly in proximity to large urban areas, the majority of camps for IDPs in less accessible areas have little or no access to water or sanitation infrastructure.

Food

A recent International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) assessment in the region of Seleya, West Darfur, estimates that the coming harvest will barely cover 20 percent of the overall food needs of the local population.

WFP's September distribution statistics indicate that 98 percent of the targeted beneficiaries in Darfur and 87 percent in Chad received food rations. The Darfur statistics are based on food dispatched from the major distribution hubs in each state. WFP acknowledges that post-distribution monitoring procedures need to be put in place, since there continue to be concerns about double counting, distribution of incomplete rations, and inaccurate records.

On October 2, WFP will hold a preliminary debrief of its nutrition and food security assessment. WFP expects the assessment to show an increase in the number of IDPs requiring emergency food assistance to two million or more, and has therefore increased its target for food distribution in Darfur to two million, starting in October.

Sudanese Refugees in Eastern Chad

On September 28, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that it had opened a tenth camp, Tréguine, for Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad. UNHCR opened Tréguine to relieve the pressure on the overcrowded Breidjing Camp, where approximately 42,000 people have been living in a camp originally designed to accommodate 20,000 refugees. An eleventh camp is currently under construction along the border with North Darfur to accommodate nearly 11,000 refugees living in an informal settlement in Am Nabak.

UNHCR reports that tension caused by disputes over resources has increased between refugees and the local Chadian population. National Security Forces are being deployed to patrol in and around the camps in order to improve security following a series of attacks on refugees.

MAP - Sudan: Ongoing USG programs in Darfur

Footnotes

¹ According to WHO, the emergency threshold for crude mortality is 1 death per 10,000 people per day.

² According to WHO, the emergency threshold for under-five mortality is 2 deaths per 10,000 children under five per day.

Contribution table (pdf* format - 34 KB)