Newly displaced from Jebel Marra receive aid in North Darfur

People fleeing the attacks on villages in Jebel Marra are still pouring into the camps for the displaced in North and Central Darfur. The newly displaced in North Darfur have received food aid, while those in Central Darfur are still in urgent need for humanitarian assistance.

The number of people from Jebel Marra who sought shelter at the Shaddad camp for the displaced near Shangil Tobaya in North Darfur's Tawila locality reached 2,821, the coordinator of the camp told Radio Dabanga.

“Most of them are children, women and the elderly,” he said “They are living in the open, and are in urgent need of food, medicines, and shelter.”

On Wednesday and Thursday, 47 families from Jebel Marra arrived at the Tawila camps. An activist reported that the families initially sought protection in the Kabkabiya camps. “But because of the insecurity, the spread of militiamen, and the absence of humanitarian aid, they came to Tawila.”

He said the Sudanese Red Crescent has registered them, in preparation for the provision of assistance.

He said that the UN World Food Programme (WFP) distributed millet and lentils to the third group of newcomers in the Tawila camps. “This brings the number of those who have received food aid to 28,000.”

He said that about 3,000 newly displaced people from Jebel Marra are still living in the open.

Ongoing influx

The influx of people fleeing from Jebel Marra to Nierteti in Central Darfur continues.

“The stream of frightened and exhausted villagers has not ceased since the beginning of the offensive on Jebel Marra in mid-January,” a resident of Nierteti told Radio Dabanga.

“The majority of them are now staying with relatives, whose abilities to support them are overstretched because of the soaring prices of food and other basic commodities. The people who fled to the Nierteti camps have not received any humanitarian aid so far,” he said.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan, the number of people displaced by the recent violence in Jebel Marra reached 96,000 by 28 February.

Of this reported number, 65,800 people have been registered. The majority of the newly displaced – over 92,000 people – are in North Darfur, with another 3,350 people in Central Darfur, and 1,000 in South Darfur, OCHA reported.

Protests in Sydney

Darfuris living in Australia staged a mass demonstration in Sydney on Friday, denouncing the violence “committed by the Khartoum regime in Darfur, and Jebel Marra in particular”.

The protesters handed a memorandum to the Mayor of Sydney and a Member of the Australian Parliament, activist Mohamed Adam told Radio Dabanga.

“We called on the Government of Australia to boycott the Khartoum regime, and provide humanitarian support to the victims of the Darfur bombardments,” he said.