OCHA: ‘55,000 newly displaced in North Darfur’s Saraf Omra’

About 55,000 people have been displaced by the recent violence in Saraf Omra, the latest humanitarian bulletin of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. The majority of the estimated 55,000 people in Saraf Omra who fled attacks by militias led by Musa Hilal, have taken refuge near the Unamid team site outside Saraf Omra town, according to the Sudanese Red Crescent Society. Unamid is providing protection, water, and medical treatment to the wounded. They require provision of food, additional water, and sanitation assistance, according to Unamid. The World Health Organization and other actors confirmed that the hospital and market in Saraf Omra have been looted. Health workers from the hospital are amongst the conflict-affected people who have sought shelter near the Unamid team site. The UN also received reports that an estimated 1,500 people from Saraf Omra arrived in the area of Fassi village in Central Darfur’s Zalingei locality. This figure is yet to be verified. According to Suleiman Abdel Rahman Suleiman, the Sudanese Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, an estimated 30,000 civilians were displaced in Saraf Omra. Eastern localities About 54,000 people fled their homes in North Darfur’s eastern localities of Alliet and El Taweisha, the Commissioner stated. The people fled their homes following attacks by the “Darfur joint resistance forces” on Sudanese army and militia forces in Alliet and El Taweisha localities in the beginning of March. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people were displaced from El Taweisha, Alliet Jarelnabi and Haskanita towns to villages within Alliet and El Taweisha localities in North Darfur. Others have fled to Ghubaysh locality in West Kordofan. Because humanitarian organisations are unable to access the areas, these numbers cannot be verified. The most recent civilian displacement of some 55,000 people from Saraf Omra in North Darfur comes on top of another estimated 60,000 people who have been displaced in Darfur since early January 2014, OCHA noted. “Last year saw more people displaced in Darfur than in any single year since the height of the Darfur conflict in 2004. Current levels of displacement in Darfur may indicate that this trend is continuing through 2014.” Map: Movements of displaced persons from Saraf Omra (OCHA – detail) Related:‘Conditions for 32,000 newly displaced in Central Darfur’s Fassi catastrophic’: Commissioner (17 March 2014) Goods, livestock looted in Saraf Omra for sale in West Darfur capital (13 march 2014) Musa Hilal’s militias plunder, burn, take control of North Darfur’s Saraf Omra (9 March 2014) Musa Hilal warns North Darfur citizens of ‘operations’ (2 March 2014)