Darfur: One Year Later, Will We Act Quickly Enough to Save Lives?

Nearly 2 million people have been displaced and live in “temporary” shelters, depending on others to survive. Darfuris arrive daily to already overcrowded camps. Attacks continue. In late January, almost 10,000 people fled villages in northern areas of South Darfur. We will never know how many people have died, but estimates range between 70,000 and 150,000.

Insecurity, logistics constraints and lack of funding prevent aid agencies from reaching hundreds of thousands of people. In January, only 50 percent of people entitled to food rations received them. Others were never considered because they couldn’t be reached. Even some of those in camps still lack water, food, fuel and protection from violence.

The first Darfuri refugees arrived in Chad in April 2003. There have since been reports, resolutions, commission findings, legislation and pledges of action against the parties causing and supporting the attacks. Meanwhile, people continue to be murdered and raped, and to die of diseases resulting from the violence. People remain in camps, missing another planting season, with no hope of going home and rebuilding their lives anytime soon. And the violence spills over, most recently into the neighboring region of Kordofan.

The conflict requires a solution that provides for the economic and political needs of the long-marginalized region. Sudan signed a comprehensive peace agreement earlier this year, which could benefit all the people of Sudan. Geoffrey Chege, CARE’s regional director for East and Central Africa said, “Just as the international community came together to support that effort, it should provide sufficient engagement, political will and resources to ensure a just and lasting peace throughout the country. Members of the U.N. Security Council, heads of state and elected officials, and nongovernmental organizations need to keep the spotlight on Darfur, with a concerted, consistent approach to ending the crisis.”

He added, “It was one year ago when the U.N. representative told the BBC: ‘This is the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis, and I don’t know why the world isn’t doing more about it.’ One could say the same today.”

For more information, please contact:
Lynn Heinisch, heinisch@care.org, +27 (0)83 626 3113
Amber Meikle, meikle@careinternational.org, 0207 934 9348