UN: insecurity hampers aid to 176,000 displaced in East Darfur

Some 176,000 people displaced in East Darfur are in dire need of aid, but humanitarian organisations have limited access to them as a result of insecurity and lack of escorts for humanitarian personnel, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports.The State Government has authorised humanitarian staff to travel to some of the affected areas, but it has not authorised Unamid escorts. As a result of this restriction, there have not been any UN humanitarian convoys outside of the Ed Daein area in East Darfur since 13 August 2013, according to OCHA.According to the agency, the 176,000 displaced in East Darfur were uprooted from their homes since April 2013 as a result of inter-tribal fighting and clashes between the government and rebel forces.This includes 140,100 people displaced by the Rizeigat and Ma’alia fighting, of whom 134,910 are in Adila and Abu Karinka, according to the government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (these figures have not been verified due to lack of access) and 5,190 displaced people are in Al Jalabi Sunta and Mina Al Bari in Ed Daein locality.Another 36,000 people were displaced by fighting around Muhajeriya and Labado in April and May. Reports received from the community leaders and displaced community leaders indicate that there are some locations where there are critical gaps. These include Labado, Muhajeriya, Yassin, Selea, Abu Hadid, Adila and Abu Karinka.According to the Government of Sudan’s Water and Environmental Sanitation Department (WES), this massive displacement has put enormous pressure on the existing water sources in 23 displacement areas in East Darfur.Returned According to East-Darfuri listeners of Radio Dabanga, the September-October clashes between the Rizeigat and Ma’alia have displaced about 12,000 people in the locality of Abu Karinka locality. A large number of them fled to the outskirts of Abu Karinka town and Ed Daein, the capital of East Darfur. Most of the displaced have returned to their villages during the last two weeks. One of them told Radio Dabanga that they had returned to their area east of Dar El Salaam, south of Abu Karinka by more than a week, because “the harvest had come”. The returnees are now living in the open under the trees of their farmlands, since they found their entire homes burnt on their arrival. “The area does not have one school anymore, a health centre or a market. We do not have access to drinking water because the three water wells in the area do not work anymore,” the returnee added. Another source affirmed that since a week the thousands of returnees to their villages are suffering from hunger, cold and insecurity, and a lack of services, shelter, medicines, food and drinking water. He also referred to the lack of security in the region. The children in particular have become prone to diseases and are suffering from fevers and colds. The returnees appealed to humanitarian organisations “to care for the citizens in the area of Dar El Salam and support them with tents or tarpaulin, food, medicines, and extra clothes for the winter season”.They have requested the state authorities “to take the required measures in order to return security and stability to the region”, and called on the Rizeigat and Ma’alia tribes “to listen to the voice of reason, return to their religion, and take into the account the harsh conditions the people have to live in as a result of their conflicts”. File photo by Albert Gonzalez Farran/Unamid Related: Unamid ‘urgently’ requires health intervention in East Darfur (26 October 2013)Rizeigat attack kills three Ma’alia farmers in Abu Karinka, East Darfur (24 October 2013)Rizeigat-Ma’alia clashes leave 41 dead, 51 injured in East Darfur (24 October 2013)Renewed Rizeigat-Ma’alia clashes in East Darfur (18 September 2013)