SWITZERLAND: The numbers of people internally displaced by conflict in Darfur could rise further now that the rainy season appears to have ended, said Irish Red Cross chairman, Mr David Andrews, on his return to Dublin yesterday from a five-day mission to Sudan, writes Denis McClean in Geneva.
The rains have been hampering the relief effort significantly in recent months, turning roads into quagmires and making it impossible for the UN World Food Programme to deliver sufficient food supplies for its 1.2 million target group in Darfur.
Estimates of the death toll are put at 50,000 among the displaced by the World Health Organisation, largely due to disease spread by poor living conditions in over 100 camps which dot the remote countryside.
Mr Andrews said the irony of the situation now is that water will become a huge priority in the camps because of its scarcity in one of the driest parts of Africa. He said that he had heard reports of fresh arrivals in the camps and this could be linked to more freedom of movement from areas previously cut off by the rains.
The end of the rainy season will also be a testing time due to the disruption of the agricultural cycle caused by the displacement of the rural African farming communities by marauding bands of Janjaweed Arab militias active in a conflict triggered by the rebels of the Sudan Liberation Army, which rose against the government last February in a bid for more autonomy.
Mr Andrews, who was accompanied by the secretary general of the Irish Red Cross, Ms Carmel Dunne, said: "It was a very difficult trip. People told us their experiences in the grimmest detail. Villages have been overrun by the Janjaweed across the region, men have been killed, women raped and children chased out of their homes."
They visited camps for the displaced in north and south Darfur; although some were well-run, they came across others in which conditions were "despairingly bad".
The Irish Red Cross has raised over €300,000 from the public and met with officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Sudanese Red Crescent to discuss outstanding needs in the aid operations. Mr Andrews said one probable area of support was towards water and sanitation projects; blankets and shelter materials would also be important in preparedness for any significant increase in numbers.
He said he formed the view that the aid operation would continue until such time as people were convinced that it was safe to go back. "The aid will be needed until the last person returns home," Mr Andrews said.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Ruud Lubbers, who is due to visit Darfur this weekend, has called for more autonomy for the region as a solution to the conflict.