Aid programs in darfur

Under heavy international pressure and media attention, in mid the Sudanese government established a new administrative system for Darfur, a system designed to expedite the visa and travel permit process through a moratorium on the usual administrative procedures.

Since early , however, the improvements were balanced by a new policy of increased harassment and intimidation of aid workers in Darfur. In addition, since early , the Sudanese government has reverted to many of its usual practices of administrative delay and harassment, despite its own pledge to extend the moratorium, not just in Darfur but throughout Sudan.

Since the massive relief effort began in Darfur in , the government has tried to intimidate aid workers and organizations with threats and arrests of national and international staff.

Many of the incidents appear to be targeted at organizations that provide services to, or publicly advocate on behalf of, civilians displaced by the conflict and by the ethnic cleansing that has taken place. It is difficult to ascertain the precise number of incidents; many organizations fear that if they speak publicly about the incidents they will jeopardize their operational access to the populations in need.

Between December and April alone, at least twenty aid workers were arrested or detained, mainly in South Darfur. Militias sometimes block relief going to civilians in rebel-controlled areas. In January a number of international humanitarian agencies were denied access in Darfur and had their travel permits revoked following an ad hoc request by the Sudanese government Humanitarian Aid Commission HAC, the national relief coordination agency that is the liaison with international NGOs , that agencies submit questionnaires providing detailed financial information pertaining to their operations.

In another example of harassment, the HAC official in Garsila Wadi Salih locality insisted on charging fees for the issuance of identification cards to international NGO staff. On April 2 the Sudanese government barred the plane of U. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland from landing in Khartoum or Darfur for a previously agreed upon visit, for patently specious reasons, 69 and also prohibited the plane from flying over Sudanese airspace to reach the refugee camps for Darfurians in Chad.

The government gave no reason for refusing to renew the mandate, and at this writing, has not provided the requested written confirmation. This is not a game. The fighting grew out of a financial dispute late Saturday between two individuals in the Krinding camp for displaced persons in West Darfur province, said Adam Regal, the spokesman for the General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced in Darfur.

Regal said Arab militias known as Janjaweed attacked the camp early Sunday, torching and looting properties. At least 35 others were wounded, he said. The camp is located around four kilometers some 2. The violence in Krinding was the latest to rock West Darfur in recent weeks. Last month, a land dispute between Arabs and non-Arabs in the Jebel Moon area led to bloody clashes that left at least 17 people dead and 12 others wounded.

In the nearby South Darfur province, tribal clashes over the past two months have claimed the lives of at least 45 people in the town of Tawila, according to the Sudan Doctors Committee.

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