Darfur camps reaching capacity

Camps for internally displaced persons in the western Sudanese region of Darfur are almost at full capacity due to a continuing influx of people fleeing violence, an assessment report compiled by the United Nations and other aid agencies said.

In North Darfur, As Salaam camp cannot take any more displaced people due to water shortages, while Abu Shouk has been closed to newcomers and Zam Zam is very close to maximum capacity, said the Sudan Humanitarian Overview for February. The report is prepared by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), other UN agencies and non-governmental partners.

According to the report, 30,000 people were displaced across Darfur in February, bringing the total number of people who have fled violence in the region since January to 80,000.

The largest displacements took place in South Darfur, where Sudanese government and militia attacks sent 25,000 into the bush. In West Darfur, 12,595 have been displaced, while North Darfur reported 11,500 displaced since January.

Sexual and physical assaults on civilians continue to be reported daily, and access restrictions, bureaucracy and targeted violence impede humanitarian operations.

According to the report, access for aid agencies in Darfur dropped to 64 percent in January and 20 percent of the affected people could not be reached by any humanitarian agency. "An average of 2.45 million people, 70 percent of the conflict-affected population, remain food insecure," it noted.

The report, however, noted that clashes between government and rebel forces had fallen in February compared with December and January, as had aerial bombings.

Humanitarian activities resumed in Tawilla and Khazan Tungur, North Darfur, but lack of sufficient safety guarantees delayed resumption in Gereida, South Darfur.

Another report issued on 12 March by a UN mission investigating human rights in Darfur accused the Sudanese government of failing to protect civilians, saying the government had participated in orchestrating and committing atrocities against its own people.

"The principal pattern is one of a violent counter-insurgency campaign waged by the government of the Sudan in concert with Janjawid/militia, and targeting mostly civilians," the mission said as a three-week session of the UN human rights council began in Geneva.

Violations included murder, torture, gang-rape, forced displacement and arbitrary arrests. The Sudanese government rejected the accusations.

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government, accusing it of neglect and discrimination against the region.

The government armed Janjawid militias in a bid to suppress the uprising, but the militias have been widely accused of carrying out a scorched-earth campaign of murder, rape and pillaging that has targeted mainly non-Arab inhabitants of Darfur. The conflict has since spilled over into eastern Chad and the Central African Republic.

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