UN distributes aid to 38,000 new displaced in North Darfur

The UN and partners have distributed food relief and other humanitarian aid to the 38,000 civilians – the vast majority women and children – who have been displaced by the recent conflict in Darfur’s Jebel Marra area.

Other life-saving assistance, delivered mostly by a 24-truck convoy escorted by Unamid that arrived in the area on 11 February 2016, included water, shelter, cooking equipment, latrines, medical supplies and nutritional supplement for malnourished children, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan says in a press statement today.

The hostilities in the Jebel Marra, that escalated mid-January, have forced thousands of civilians to flee the mountainous area that straddles three Darfur states, many walking for miles with no food or water. 

“The UN is calling for a cessation of hostilities and is urging all parties to the conflict to allow international humanitarian workers to reach displaced people in Central Darfur.”

The 38,000 who have received assistance are in three locations in North Darfur – 23,000 in Sortony (next to a Unamid base), 13,000 in Tawilla (in an established camp for displaced people) and more than 1,000 in Kabkabiya town. In Sortony, a remote area with no established humanitarian presence, 62 percent of the newly displaced are children and 28 percent are women.

Thousands are also reported to have fled into Central Darfur but the UN has not yet been able to verify reported displacement or ascertain and respond to humanitarian needs.

“Emergency supplies have been delivered to the newly displaced in North Darfur, but longer term support will be required as long as it remains unsafe for them to return to their villages. Displacement could also increase if hostilities continue,” said Marta Ruedas, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan.

“The UN is calling for a cessation of hostilities and is urging all parties to the conflict to allow international humanitarian workers to reach displaced people in Central Darfur,” she said.

In addition to the emergency assistance provided, the UN and partners have also deployed medical staff and child protection officers.