GENEVA, 28 August 2004 — The Red Cross (ICRC) will boost its aid to Sudanese in Darfur’s desolate and war-torn countryside, virtually ignored while most assistance is channeled to refugees in camps, a spokesman said yesterday.
Also yesterday, the United Nations appealed for $166 million to assist Sudanese refugees in camps in Chad, three times more than its March estimate of $54.5 million.
Since that earlier appeal the number of refugees in Chad has nearly doubled, from 110,000 to more than 200,000, and the UN anticipates more arrivals in the coming months.
The 1.5 million displaced persons in all camps combined “are only the most visible aspect of the humanitarian crisis” in Sudan’s Darfur region, said the head of the ICRC’s delegation in Sudan, Dominik Stillhart. “There are four or five million other persons still in their villages whose situation remains precarious, and of those at least one million are very vulnerable,” he said.
The ICRC is seeking to prevent a further influx of refugees to the camps, which would both aggravate the humanitarian situation and play into the hands of the region’s pro-government Arab militias.
Stillhart also underlined the need to facilitate the return of refugees to their homes, though he acknowledged that this would be difficult as “the conflict is ongoing is some zones.”
“Nobody talks about return at this stage, but it is not a situation that can be sustained long,” said Jean-Marie Fakhouri, head of the UN High Commission for Refugee’s operations in Darfur.
The ICRC has 90 expatriate and 400 local personnel in the Darfur region, more than one tenth of the total 4,000 aid workers affiliated with 40-odd humanitarian organizations.
The rebellion in Darfur erupted 18 months ago when minority tribes took up arms to demand an equal share of national development, spawning a conflict that has claimed up to 50,000 lives.
Japan will press Sudan to end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur when Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail visits there next month, the Foreign Ministry said in Tokyo yesterday.
Ismail is scheduled to visit Tokyo on Sept. 5 for a five-day visit that includes a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, the ministry said. Darfur will top Japan’s agenda even though the trip was arranged long before the international community woke up to the crisis.
“Japan and the international community are very concerned over the crisis in Darfur and we will voice our grave concern and press the Sudanese government to take concrete measures to end this problem,” a ministry official said.
The United Nations estimates that up to 50,000 people have been killed since Sudan’s armed forces and the militias cracked down on non-Arab minorities supporting rebels who took up arms against the government early last year.
More than one million people have fled their homes, with up to 200,000 seeking refuge in neighboring Chad. Sudan faces a UN deadline of Aug. 30 to restore peace in Darfur or face sanctions.
Japan has limited leverage, having stopped providing foreign aid to Sudan in 1992 due to the country’s violation of human rights, but it continues to give emergency food and medical supply mainly to refugees.
