ACT News Update

Sudan 0104

Geneva, March 23, 2004—For much of the last 48 years since its independence, Sudan has been trapped in a cycle of civil conflict, resulting in the largest internal displacement of people in the world. Four million people have over the years fled their homes to escape the fighting between government troops, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement Army and several smaller militia groups.

Yet, as significant steps are being taken towards the signing of a peace accord between the two main warring parties in the south of the country, a humanitarian crisis as a result of conflict is unfolding in the Darfur region in the western part of Sudan.

Rebels in this part of the country took up arms early last year, causing some 1,5 million people to flee the violence that has devastated the Darfur region. 750,000 people are reported to have been internally displaced and more than 100,000 have fled to neighboring Chad.

Two members of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, Sudan Council of Churches (SCC) and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) are appealing for US$800,000 to assist some 30,000 victims of the conflict in Southern and Western Darfur regions. SCC and NCA, through the support of the ACT members worldwide, will provide 20,000 blankets, kitchen utensils, basic health services to treat common infectious diseases, 16 bore holes and hand pumps that will bring water to 8,000 families, training in well maintenance and hygiene, food-for-work projects, seeds, tools, educational materials, and three emergency school shelters for some 1,080 internally displaced children.

Towards the end of 2003, NCA, with its local implementing partner, Sudan Social Development Organisation (SUDO), along with the SCC requested funds from the ACT Rapid Response Fund (RRF) for immediate assistance to the people affected by the fighting in the region. The funds were was mainly used for medicines, blankets and mosquito nets.

In February this year, Tor Valla and Innocent Ndizeye, both of NCA, alerted ACT and its members to the fact that the conflict had intensified since it first started in April 2003. Valla and Ndizeye wrote that the increased insecurity for those fleeing the conflict "demanded a quick response from humanitarian agencies in order to prevent a disastrous situation for the Sudanese refugees seeking protection in Chad".

In the latest update from Sudan, the NCA office in Khartoum reports that the situation is deteriorating rapidly and that they are putting together a team to start humanitarian operations in the Darfur region (in and north of Nyala in South Darfur) and in and around Zalingei (West Darfur). SCC, along with NCA's local partner SUDO will be implementing the work. Short follow-up assessments to Nyala and possibly Zalingi are underway.

During regular meetings by the humanitarian agencies responding to the emergency, the situation is being described as becoming increasingly grim. The United Nations humanitarian situation report posted on March 23, 2004, cites the following incidents: Repeated attacks by armed militias on displaced populations and host communities in North Darfur that have led to an influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs) into El Fasher town, Tawilla and Kutum. Attacks on 24 villages around Tawilla on 19 March saw people fleeing their homes and seeking shelter in Tawilla town. The numbers of IDPs still have to be confirmed. Also, following the attack on Korma, about 6,500 new IDPs moved into the Mashtel camp in El Fasher. There are now some 13,000 IDPs in Mashtel camp. An attack on March 22 in Buram, South Darfur, has also reportedly resulted in casualties and people being displaced. This attack followed others over the weekend on Biatra, in Mersheng and Wad Almeram, 30km south of Nyala—all in South Darfur.

NCA writes that the UN is urging NGOs to become operational as soon as possible, as the needs of the people affected by the conflict are so great and also to be there "to witness and to be with the people". With the rainy season about to start, with food already being in short supply and with communications not always being possible, NCA stressed the growing needs of people. "There is a need everywhere, and in every sector."

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