UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland criticized the Sudanese government Monday for blocking aid workers, food and equipment from reaching the Darfur region, where 2 million people desperately need humanitarian aid.
| Expect a strongly worded protest soon, um, August. |
Calling Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today, Egeland told the U.N. Security Council that relief agencies are trying to get food, water, sanitation equipment and tents to the western Sudanese region before the rainy season. "We've been working for many, many weeks in a race against the clock, and we see that the government which should do its utmost to help us is still not helping," he said. "Some ministers are helping us, but some of their subordinates are sabotaging us."
| If you call what the Janjaweed are doing "sabotage", well ... |
Sudan has relaxed some restrictions on access for relief organizations in response to complaints by the United Nations and many governments. Egeland said U.N. international staff were now able to travel to Darfur, but other aid groups still faced visa problems. He also said red tape has prevented ships carrying food and equipment for Darfur from unloading for weeks. "Nowhere else in the world are so many lives at stake as in Darfur at the moment," he said.
Egeland said people in Darfur were dying not only from violence but also from the lack of aid supplies. "We're making progress in terms of food. Our estimation is that we will be able to feed 800,000 people by the end of this month, 1.2 million people by the end of August, and some 2 million people if we still have access like now by October," Egeland said."We're also able to provide temporary shelter to some 600,000, we think by the end of this month. But we're way behind in terms of water, sanitation, immunizations, and nutritional centers for children, and that may take many thousands of lives during the rainy season," he said. |