North Darfur displaced relocated, receive food aid

People who were recently displaced by fighting in East Jebel Marra and took refuge in Um Baru, have all been relocated to a new site. Newly displaced populations in North Darfur's Um Baru, El Fasher, and El Sareif localities have received food supplies from NGOs.

The area next to the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (Unamid) team site in Um Baru had been overcrowded with displaced people since the locality was targeted by government militias and the Sudanese Air Force since 8 January, purportedly to rid the area of rebel fighters. The people are relocated to a new site, 1.5 km from the team site. Their numbers are estimated to be at 7,362.

The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) added in its latest weekly bulletin that the World Food Programme has distributed 164.9 MT of food to Um Baru. It also distributed 91 tonnes of food to 7,428 newly displaced people in the villages of Shagra A, B, and C, Behair, Um Hagaleeg, and Majdoub B in the rural area of El Fasher.

Zamzam camp for the displaced people, which is near El Fasher and has a registered population of at least 150,000, receives a daily amount of 80,000 litres of water from the International Organization for Migration, according to OCHA. The UN Children’s Agency (Unicef) has drilled two boreholes there and works on the instalment of an elevated water tank and a third borehole.

Meanwhile, people who have fled from Karnoi locality and Abu Gamra are taking refuge in Mideisis and Kino in El Sareif Beni Hussein localities. Aid agencies confirmed the arrival of 1,645 newly displaced there last week. The WFP has sent 29 tonnes of food to assist them.