‘Entire generation may be lost in Darfur’: Unicef

The UN children’s rights and relief organisation, Unicef, has warned that an entire generation in Darfur may be lost as a result of more than ten years of violence in the region. “Life in the camps might produce a new generation without ambition,” the Unicef Representative in Sudan, Geert Cappelaere said in an interview while on a visit in London. “In particular as about 60 to 70 percent of the displaced in Darfur are minors.” He said he was shocked by what he saw on a visit to Zamzam camp in North Darfur last week, where 30,000 people had just arrived: “Most of those newly displaced are children.” He warned that the children growing up in the Darfur camps for the displaced may not be able to return to a normal life. Many are traumatised after having witnessed attacks against their families or being themselves subjected to violence, abduction, and other assaults. In addition, the malnutrition figures are very high. Cappelaere pointed to North Darfur which is listed first of the Darfur states suffering from an acute food crisis. “More than 80,000 children in North Darfur are severely malnourished. South Darfur State comes second in the list.” “The world should not turn its back to the tragedy of the children in Darfur,” the Unicef official urged.   File photo: Geert Cappelaere (@gcappelare) Related: South Darfur food shortage 228,000 tons, East Darfur 175,000 tons (11 May 2014) ‘Huge food gaps in South and North Darfur’: officials (6 May 2014)Frustration high among youth in South Darfur’s Kalma camp (6 January 2014)