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CARE International condemns upsurge in violence against Darfur civilians

16 November 2004
Nairobi and Brussels -- CARE International strongly condemns the escalation of violence by government forces and rebel groups against civilians in the South Darfur region of Sudan.

The humanitarian agency calls urgently for:

the Sudanese government and all rebel groups to abide by the terms of the ceasefire and stop all attacks on civilians.
the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and all governments to ensure all parties are held accountable for their commitments
the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and all governments to support African Union (AU) leaders in immediately deploying the expanded AU monitoring force to protect civilians and safeguard the transport and distribution of life-saving humanitarian supplies.

In South Darfur , lawlessness is rising throughout the region and rebel groups, militias, bandits, and government forces are contributing to extreme brutality against innocent civilians, especially women and children. The violence includes forced relocations of internally displaced people from camps, separation of children from their parents, and extreme levels of sexual violence.

“We work in 70 countries worldwide and this situation is extraordinary and appalling,“ to see repeated sexual assaults on women and girls when they are struggling to gather water and firewood for their families,” said Denis Caillaux, Secretary General of CARE International. “We call on all parties to this conflict to comply with their ceasefire agreement and halt these assaults on civilians immediately.”

The violence has disrupted the vital humanitarian lifeline to hundreds of thousands of people. Food deliveries have been disrupted by banditry and humanitarian assets have been wantonly destroyed.

"At least a quarter of a million people have not received their food rations for almost two months," said Geoffrey Chege, Regional Director for CARE International, adding that lack of food is not the only problem: “Most of the clean water and public health infrastructure we've built has been reduced to rubble in the recent raid on the El Geer camp for internally displaced people. This will have a terrible and immediate impact on thousands of vulnerable and malnourished people, especially young children.”

CARE International welcomes the African Union’s (AU) decision to deploy additional observers and to give them a stronger mandate to protect civilians and safeguard the delivery of humanitarian supplies. International donors have been generous but there are not enough AU troops in place and they are grossly under-equipped. AU monitors need such basics as radio communications and vehicles to patrol the most dangerous areas.

“The African Union must now respond when innocent people are being attacked. A stronger AU presence in greater Darfur can make a real difference,“ it has the potential to deter ceasefire violations and extreme acts of violence perpetrated by all parties and help restore the broken chain of humanitarian access,” said Chege.

“CARE International repeats our call for the Government of Sudan to better protect its citizens, and for the African Union members and donor governments to come together and mobilise the necessary AU troops, equipment and technical assistance. This is the most direct path to improving the situation for ordinary people who are in danger and to preventing the deadly lawlessness from reaching a turning point that will require far greater action to bring the armed groups under control,” said Kathleen Hunt, CARE International representative to the United Nations.

“We urge Security Council members gathered in Nairobi this week to seriously deal with the escalating violence and deteriorating humanitarian conditions for nearly two million Sudanese,” said Hunt. “The overall peace process cannot ignore the grim reality of Darfur .”

CARE has been distributing food for 400,000 people in South and West Darfur ; delivering plastic sheeting for shelter, blankets, water containers, soap and kitchen sets for aid agencies to distribute to 400,000 people throughout Darfur ; providing water, latrines and environmental health services for 150,000 people in South Darfur ; and running a therapeutic feeding centre in Nyala, South Darfur . In Chad , CARE is managing four refugee camps, including distribution of food and non-food items, providing assistance to roughly 80,000 refugees. CARE has been working in Sudan since 1979, and is continuing its development work throughout the country.