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Humanitarian partners in Darfur face serious capacity issues

Countries
Sudan
Sources
OCHA
Publication date

Highlights

• Since January 2014, a new wave of insecurity and violence has generated additional humanitarian needs across Darfur. Fighting and insecurity involving Government forces, armed movements and armed tribal militia, have resulted in the displacement of 321,929 people.

• Protection of civilians has been and continues to be a major over-arching concern throughout Darfur.

• As of 25 May, 203,197 people remain displaced.

• The newly displaced people mostly concentrate in the camps around Nyala, South Darfur, and Zamzam, on the outskirts of El Fasher, as well as in Tawilla and Kutum localities, North Darfur.

• For the aid community, the biggest challenge has been, and still is, to provide basic services to the displaced people who have been arriving in large numbers at the camps in North and South Darfur, thus putting the existing services under strain.

• Since the beginning of 2014, the humanitarian community has had access to 179,662 out of 203,197 IDPs. In April and May, a considerable improvement in humanitarian access occurred, allowing aid partners to reach most of the affected areas.

• The areas where access is still restricted are: Hashaba North, Kutum locality, North Darfur; Jebel Marra; and Adila and Abu Karinka, East Darfur.

• Since the outbreak of the crises, humanitarian partners have conducted 30 assessment missions throughout Darfur, reaching more than 260,000 people with different levels of live-saving assistance.

• While the overall needs have increased, humanitarian partners face serious capacity issues. As resources are limited, every live-saving sector has reported significant funding shortfalls.

Since January 2014

355,154 affected people, of these 321,929 are IDPs

203,197 IDPs as of 25 May

264,158 people reached with humanitarian assistance*

*The number of people affected and that of the people reached by aid are estimates. The latter is based on both needs assessments carried out as of the date of the update, along with any form of assistance provided. This means that the needs of these people may have not been necessarily comprehensively met. The number is the total of people who have received assistance, including those who have meanwhile returned to their places of origin.

Overview

Following continued fighting between the Government of Sudan and armed movements, as well as renewed tribal clashes, a total of 321,929 people were displaced in Darfur since 1 January 2014. This is close to the number of people that were newly displaced in Darfur in all of 2013. This number includes 203,197 people who remain displaced as of 25 May, plus the number of IDPs who have returned to their places of origin. Overall, approximately 355,000 people have been affected by these conflict dynamics. Protection of civilians remains a top priority. Protection partners try to identify and prevent protection incidents by an increased presence in the field and through participatory assessments, focus group discussions and individual consultations. However, a timely and effective response is hampered by a lack of protection partners on the ground and denial of timely access to areas of concern.

Violence and insecurity has decreased in the last couple of weeks. However, sporadic incidents continue but have not resulted in additional displacement.

With regards to tribal conflicts, the ongoing tensions between the Beni Hussein and the Rizeigat tribes in North Darfur, along with the continuous blockage of roads in the El Sireaf locality, North Darfur, represent a concern. Unfortunately, reconciliation efforts have not yet led to a solution.

The IDP population is mostly concentrated in the camps around Nyala, South Darfur, and Zamzam, on the outskirts of El Fasher, North Darfur, as well as in Tawilla and Kutum localities, North Darfur. It is estimated that some 180,000 new IDPs (i. e. 60 per cent) have been absorbed by existing camps. The majority of these went to Kalma, Al Salam, El Siref and Otash in South Darfur, and to Zamzam in North Darfur. As of 25 May, the total number of people who returned to their places of origin stands at 118,732. Returns have mainly taking place in Saraf Omra (66,473 people) and El Lait and El Taweisha localities (52,259 people) in North Darfur. In addition, unverified “quick returns” have been reported around El Sireaf locality and in the rural areas of El Fasher.

In South Darfur, some 7,600 people have returned to Um Gunya, Hijer and other villages in Bielel locality from Saniya Deleiba and various camps around Nyala. While some people returned permenantly, others did so only temporarily in order to cultivate their lands. In addition, some 3,000 people out of the 3,094 IDPs who had been living within the UNAMID Team Site in Khor Abeche, Niteaga locality, since March have now left and are in a protected area close to the team site.

In terms of humanitarian access, the months of April and May saw considerable improvement when compared to the first months of 2014. Humanitarian partners were able to reach most of the affected areas, with the exception of northern Kutum locality (Hashaba North), eastern Jebel Mara, North Darfur, and Adila and Abu Karinka, East Darfur. Even though humanitarian access has opened up, the situation does remain fluid, due both to the high mobility of armed forces and armed movements, and a significant increase in criminality.

As for northern Kutum, discussions are ongoing with state authorities to obtain access. For eastern Jebel Mara, on 20 and 21 May, the Wali of Central Darfur visited the western part of the region (Golo, Guldo and Rokoro villages) and established a committee to bring peaceand stability to the area, a possible positive sign, against back drop of no access for four years. For Adila and Abu Karinka, the Governor of East Darfur had recently announced that humanitarian partners would be granted access to both localities. Due to renewed tribal fighting breaking out in the last couple of days, however, an assessment mission to the area had to be postponed.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.