Growing Restrictions on Aid Workers in Sudan's Darfur
Aid workers in many parts of Sudan's Darfur face increasing government restrictions on their movement despite a soaring number of people needing help after recent violence, a senior U.N. official said Wednesday.
"At the moment, we're hearing reports of new displacement every day in North Darfur," the official told Agence France Presse, requesting anonymity.
"Every time we hear these reports, we request access. On almost all occasions, we're not permitted," leaving aid workers essentially confined to the state capital El Fasher, the official said.
The United Nations estimated 215,000 people have been displaced in Darfur this year -- many of them in North Darfur -- bringing the total to around two million after 11 years of unrest.
But the official said access restrictions mean verification of the exact number now needing help is difficult.
"We're not able to get to them to determine how much aid they need, and to deliver the aid," he said.
There are "limited pockets" of access but these are mostly around the South Darfur state capital, Nyala, the source added.
Authorities say access restrictions are necessary to ensure the safety of aid workers.
Such concern is appreciated, said Terry Morel, a director with the U.N.'s refugee agency (UNHCR) who joined a senior U.N. delegation to Sudan last week.
But she cited the example of her agency's work in Syria and Somalia, saying: "We are used to working in insecure areas."
Ali Adam Hassan, a director general with Sudan's Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), told the delegation that Sudan appreciates the aid efforts of the international community.
"There is no government that would obstruct humanitarian assistance," he said.
HAC Commissioner Suleiman Abdel Rahman told reporters on Tuesday that the humanitarian situation in North Darfur was stable, and convoys of food aid had been sent to affected areas, official media reported.
The latest displacements follow the uprooting last year of 380,000 people, more than in any year in the past decade.
"This trend is clearly continuing," while funding for aid agencies has dropped significantly, the senior U.N. official told AFP.
He added: "Patterns of violence and displacement that we're seeing bear strong resemblance to the height of the conflict in 2004."
Local sources say militiamen have been suspected in many of the latest attacks, in which villages and even a camp for displaced people have been reported burned and looted.
Anti-government rebels also seized some areas in recent weeks.
Analysts say the government can no longer control its former Arab tribal allies, whom it armed against the insurgents who began their uprising in 2003.
The latest restrictions on access are on top of problems reaching other areas over the past year or more, the senior U.N. official said.
"Since 2010 we haven't been able to get into East Jebel Marra," in the centre of Darfur, he said.
In 2009 Sudan expelled several international aid groups from Darfur after the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir.
He is wanted for alleged crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in Darfur.
Bashir responded by saying he did not want any foreign aid groups working in Darfur within a year.
"If they want to bring in aid, they will have to leave it at the airport," he said at the time.
That did not happen, but the U.N.'s chief in Sudan, Ali Al-Za'tari, said on Sunday that "the increasingly challenging and protracted nature of the crisis in Darfur" has led to a drop of nearly two-thirds in the number of aid workers, to 6,800 in late 2013.
This makes "the effective delivery of aid more difficult", Za'tari said in a statement.
He called on all parties to the Darfur conflict to put the interests of civilians first, allowing aid assistance "without delay or hindrance."
Source: Agence France Presse
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