Unamid assists South Darfur landslide victims

Peacekeepers reached the area affected by landslides in southeastern Jebel Marra on Thursday. At least 19 people have been killed when rocks crushed parts of villages on September 6.

The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (Unamid) has deployed a joint mission together with the Humanitarian Country Team, which arrived to assist people in Wadi (valley) Tulba and Tagoli, both in Kass locality, yesterday.

Heavy rains caused mudslides that killed at least 19 people and wounded at least 25 others earlier this month, the mission reported in a statement. “An unspecified number remains unaccounted for and some families have lost their homes”, the mission quotes local sources.

Radio Dabanga reported about the disaster last week, when the Shura (consultative) Council of the Fur tribe reported that six people had gone missing.

The joint team comprises of Unamid civilian staff, the humanitarian country team, and 70 peacekeepers including six doctors.

“The team will conduct an assessment of the humanitarian situation and provide medical assistance, as well as non-food items such as tents and plastic sheets for shelter, kitchen sets, blankets and mosquito nets to the affected community.”

Unamid Joint Special Representative Jeremiah Mamabolo and the UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator pledged to assist the families and victims in Wadi Tulba and Tagoli as much as possible with their “limited resources”.

Humanitarian assistance in Jebel Marra

Only in March this year, the Red Cross was allowed to deliver essential household supplies to Golo in central Jebel Marra (Central Darfur). It was the first distribution of aid to Jebel Marra as a whole in more than 10 years.

In September last year, the ICRC and Khartoum discussed the resumption of aid activities in the regions of Darfur and South Kordofan. Khartoum’s stance towards foreign aid organisations changed when the improvement of access for humanitarian organisations in Sudan became one of the five tracks the United States assessed Sudan on, as a criterium for the possible lifting of economic sanctions that had been in place since 1997.