11-11-06, 9:27 am
NAIROBI, 10 Nov 2006 (IRIN) - The international humanitarian organisation Norwegian Refugee Council has closed down its relief operations in Darfur, western Sudanese, a move it said will affect 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the troubled region.
'We have been suspended by the government for the last two months for no clear reason,' Astrid Sehl, NRC media and communications officer said on Friday. 'We have tried to get into dialogue with the authorities to discuss whether we can come back, but they do not seem interested.'
The IDPs who have been receiving protection and humanitarian aid from the NRC include some 93,000 in Kalma, of whom 19,000 are children enrolled in an education programme and 128,000 in Gereida. Both camps are in South Darfur State.
Others are 10,000 in Otash and 52,000 who have been receiving food aid in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur State. Otash camp has recently seen the arrival of more IDPs as a result of continuing violence.
The NRC said working conditions in Darfur had become impossible. 'The frequent disruption of our humanitarian work, such as suspension for a sum total of 210 days, is forcing us to take this very difficult decision,' Tomas C. Archer, the Secretary-General, who recently met authorities in South Darfur and Khartoum, said in a statement.
It was not possible to get a comment from the Sudanese authorities. Before the closure, NRC's activities in South Darfur had been put on hold for two months, the fifth suspension since mid 2004.
'Our major concern is that this decision will have negative consequences for the IDPs,' Sehl told IRIN from Norway.
The NRC's announcement comes at a time that aid workers and IDPs in the region are working and living in an increasingly hostile environment.
A United Nations spokesman said on Tuesday armed militia had continued to attack civilians, burn houses and destroy crops daily in Darfur, while targeting NGO workers who were trying to assist an estimated two million people displaced by the violence.
Militiamen attacked on Monday villages southwest of El Fasher in North Darfur, burning homes, destroying crops and taking animals. 'A number of people were wounded, and an unknown number of civilians have been displaced as they were forced to flee their villages,' Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, told reporters in New York.
In North Darfur, he added, armed men had, a day earlier, attempted to hijack two vehicles belonging to a NGO from within an IDP camp. In South Darfur, vehicles belonging to the African Union force and NGOs returned to Nyala after being attacked by villagers accusing the force of failing to provide protection.
'The militias are still active in Darfur,' Rhadia Achouri, spokesperson for the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) told IRIN on Wednesday. 'They are still roaming around and their activities have continued unabated, threatening the lives of civilians and worsening the situation.'
Talking about the dangers to humanitarian workers given the continuing violence, Rhadia said: 'The risks are high in the areas where they operate. They are targeted for looting, etc, but they are holding the fort admirably.'
On Thursday, UNMIS reported another incident in which an AMIS patrol in Tine [180 km north of El Geneina] was surrounded by about 200 suspected militiamen. The militiamen fired several times into the air until the AMIS patrol passed.
'The situation is very volatile, but the most important thing is that the militias should be disarmed,' Achouri said.
Scores of tens of thousands of people are estimated to have died in Darfur as a result of the conflict between government forces, allied militias and rebels seeking greater autonomy for the region.
