GENEVA, 3 June 2004 — A catastrophe is looming in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region where millions of people face “dire” health consequences unless international aid is urgently stepped up, the World Health Organization warned yesterday.
“A significant increase in disease and death is inevitable without a rapid increase in external help,” the WHO said in a statement released on the eve of a meeting of donor governments in Geneva.
Rising malnutrition and illness, and child mortality rates sometimes exceeding the international threshold for a humanitarian emergency by three to one, have been reported in the region, the agency said.
“The catastrophe can only be prevented through an urgent scaling up of the current international response,” the statement added.
The UN’s health agency estimated that two million people had been affected by the crisis in Darfur, including the 1.2 million Sudanese who have fled from their homes in the region.
Some 6.7 million people live in the largely arid greater Darfur region.
At least 10,000 people are estimated to have been killed in Darfur since early 2003, following attacks by Sudanese troops and Janjawid militias on black African civilians.
About 100,000 of them have taken refuge in neighboring Chad.
“Death and disease spiral upwards when there is inadequate food, unsafe water, improper sanitation and shelter, widespread violence, lack of public health inputs like vaccinations and insufficient access to medical care,” said WHO Director General Lee Jong Wook.
“The world must not stand by as conflict is compounded by rising rates of death that could be prevented through concerted action,” he added as the WHO called for sustained financial and political backing.
Aid agencies have been racing to bring aid to displaced people in recent weeks but have complained that access is patchy and hampered by red tape despite assurances given by the Sudanese government.
An April 8 cease-fire between Khartoum and local rebel groups, as well as the green light subsequently given by the government to aid after months of blocking stalling, were meant to have eased the situation.
But yesterday the Sudanese Media Center reported that government troops and rebels had clashed in Darfur, in the latest of a series of repeated ceasefire violations.
The “informal consultation” involving the United Nations, ministers from mainly western donor countries, aid organizations, Sudanese government officials and five Darfur rebel groups today is due to tackle some of the outstanding obstacles, one of the organizers said.
“It’s the only chance so far for humanitarian organizations and donor governments to be able to talk directly to those fighting in the region about humanitarian access,” said Andy Andrea, spokesman for the Geneva-based Center for Humanitarian Dialogue.
A UN human rights report released last month accused the Sudanese government of committing massive human rights violations in Darfur that may amount to crimes against humanity.
