CAIRO, 19 April 2004 — Time is running out for about a million Sudanese displaced by fighting in the remote Darfur region, with signs of a health crisis out of control, Guido Sabatinelli, WHO’s Sudan representative, said fighting was still impeding access to some areas in Darfur near the border with Chad, despite a week-old cease-fire deal between rebels and Khartoum to allow urgent humanitarian aid in. UN officials have described the Darfur conflict as ethnic cleansing. Rebels launched a revolt in February last year in the arid area, accusing the Khartoum government of neglect and of arming Arab militias to loot and burn African villages.

“Time is running short. It is really running short. In the next days I’d like...unimpeded access that means the security is ensured, the cease-fire maintained (and) donor response,” Sabatinelli told Reuters by telephone from Khartoum.

Rainy season in the vast Darfur region begins at the end of May and brings the threat of malaria and the spread of disease in makeshift camps with no sanitation for those fleeing the violence. Sabatinelli said African farmers had to return to their villages to plant their crops before the rains, or they would be reliant on food aid for at least the next year.

“Maybe it’s not too late yet, but in three weeks, yes, it will be too late,” he said. He said the WHO needed at least $6 million over the next six months to provide basic prevention of disease, treatment and sanitation for the up to one million people affected by the conflict, but it so far had only $1.5 million. Sabatinelli said since the cease-fire aid workers had access to almost two-thirds of those affected by the conflict, compared with one-third before the truce came into effect last Sunday. But he confirmed reports that fighting was continuing. “There are some areas where there is still fighting so that we are not allowed to go,” he said, referring to Southern Darfur state.

Rebels have accused government-backed militias of violating the truce and say if the attacks continue they will break the cease-fire. Khartoum says the militias are outlaws.

Aid workers have said Khartoum did not provide permits to access areas of Darfur where many of the displaced are camped. The United Nations warns of a humanitarian crisis.

“We have not seen any improvement (in permits) but we are requesting them to provide unimpeded humanitarian access,” said Sabatinelli.

He said he visited one camp in Darfur last week for Africans fleeing the militias, known locally as “Janjaweed”.

Mortality rates among children under five in the camp were 6.8 per 10,000, about seven times the norm and defined as a “crisis out of control”. He also said child malnutrition rates were about 50 percent, with one-third severely affected.