- As many as 300,000 people might die in Sudanís
Darfur region, even if aid starts flowing to the region, a leading world
charity warned yesterday.
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- The United Nations yesterday mobilised donor countries
against the mounting humanitarian crisis in the west of Sudan, appealing
for $236 million (£129 million) in aid.
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- The international community also warned Khartoum to rein
in murderous militia gangs blamed for campaigns of rape and pillage in
the area.
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- But the head of the United States government agency USAID
warned that 300,000 people in an area of nearly seven million might already
be condemned to die from hunger and disease, regardless of whether the
UNís call for help succeeds.
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- The feared toll was based on studies of malnutrition
and mortality rates in Sudan, Andrew Natsios, a USAID administrator, told
a news conference.
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- "If we get relief in, we could lose a third of a
million, if we do not, it could be million," he said. "But that
is not a prediction, and we hope it is not true."
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- James Morris, the head of the UNís World Food
Programme, said: "Our appeal is to the government to get its act together
and to get [the militias] under control quickly."
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- Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes
and abandoned farms, mostly to avoid the government-backed janjaweed gangs,
which UN officials have accused of ethnic cleansing. The refugeesí
plight is certain to become more desperate with this monthís onset
of the rainy season.
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- The UNís Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) said the appeal would help more than one million displaced
people (IDPs) inside Sudan, another 150,000 refugees over the border in
Chad and up to 800,000 others likely to be affected by the conflict by
the end of the year.
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- "It is a race against the clock," said OCHA
chief Jan Egeland. "The biggest human drama anywhere in the world
is unfolding in Darfur."
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- Mr Egeland cited restrictions placed by the Sudanese
government on international assistance and the viciousness of militia attacks
on the population of the western province of Sudan. "The constraints
are so great," he said.
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- The crisis, in which "hundreds of thousands"
might to die in coming months, will be "of enormous proportions, even
in the best of circumstances" he said.
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- The United States announced $188 million (£102
million) in aid over the next 18 months and diplomats said other countries
also made offers to the closed-door meeting, but no figures were immediately
available.
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- The violence intensified more than a year ago when rebels
allied to those active in the unsettled south accused the Sudanese government
of neglecting the impoverished area and arming Arab militias to loot and
burn black African villages.
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- Although the government is close to a final peace deal
in the south, an April ceasefire in Darfur has failed to hold.
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- At a meeting in Geneva, attended by a number of governments,
representatives of the Sudanese government and rebels undertook to ensure
access for humanitarian aid.
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- "Both sides agreed, but now people want to see it
happen in practice," said Andy Andrea, a spokesman for the Centre
for Humanitarian Dialogue, which hosted the session.
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- Citing reports from refugees, Mr Egeland said that while
there appeared to be fewer clashes between regular Sudanese forces and
rebels, the militias had stepped up their attacks.
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- "The IDPs report more atrocities, more rape, more
pillage. These are women and children, and those doing it are men armed
with Kalashnikovs," he said.
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- The aid target for the first 90 days was to feed up to
one million people across Darfur, which is as big as France, provide water
and basic medicines and monitor human rights.
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- http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=634572004
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