I. Affected Population – trends and analysis
1. The last quarter of 2007 continued to be extremely fragile, characterized by non-stop armed clashes causing massive population displacements, serious restrictions on humanitarian access, increased violence inside the IDP camps, and a high incidence of targeted attacks against humanitarian workers and their assets. By 1 January 2008, over 2,450,000 people were displaced, while another 1.8 million were seriously affected by the ongoing crisis and considered in need of humanitarian aid. On the positive side, the number of aid workers in Darfur has risen to over 14,700 in order to effectively respond to the increased humanitarian needs.
CHART 1. Estimated Number of IDPs and Total Affected Population
(UN estimates since April 2004)
II. Humanitarian Access
2. Humanitarian access in Darfur is primarily determined by a combination of two factors:
- The degree of general insecurity, which may require the United Nations and other humanitarian partners to suspend or limit operations in certain unsafe areas for a certain amount of time;
- Random targeted attacks on humanitarians and their assets, including hijacking of cars and abduction of personnel, physical violence directed towards humanitarian workers, road ambushes, destruction of NGO assets and armed break-ins in humanitarian compounds/centres.