Darfur: New Humanitarian Needs and Aid Delivery Fact Sheet, 29 April 2014

The new wave of insecurity and violence across Darfur has generated enormous additional humanitarian needs since late February 2014. Hostilities and violence involving Government forces supported by the Rapid Support Force, a Government-affiliated militia, armed movements and armed tribal militia in Darfur have spread across much of North and South Darfur, with some spillover effects to Central, West and East Darfur states. The cumulative number of people who have been displaced since late February 2014 stands at 320,383. It includes the number of people who are still displaced and those who have returned to their areas of origin. This is in addition to some 2 million people in Darfur who face longer-term displacement, having fled their homes during the height of the conflict in 2003-2005.

As of 29 April 2014, the total cumulative number of people who remain displaced in parts of Darfur stands at 188,760. Meanwhile, 131,623 people have returned to their areas of origin. The returns have largely taken place in in El Lait, El Taweisha, and Saraf Omra localities in North Darfur after the security situation improved.

During the early stages of this current crisis, aid agencies have been unable to access many of the affected areas due to violence and insecurity as well as denials of access by the authorities. Access for humanitarian organisations to assess the needs of affected/displaced people and deliver humanitarian assistance has since improved significantly. As of 29 April, aid agencies have varying degrees of access to 176,260 people, representing 93 per cent of the people who remain displaced in Darfur. The improvement is observed since the end of March when humanitarian actors had access to approximately t 90 per cent of the displaced people.

Despite the significant access constraints that the aid agencies faced earlier, 262,415 newly displaced people have been reached with humanitarian assistance. Key concerns of the aid community are continued displacement and violence/insecurity; very limited space for protection activities; constrained operating conditions; funding; and implementation capacity.