US Agency for International Development
Darfur: Humanitarian Emergency Fact Sheet #24 (FY 2004)
24 September 2004


Note: This report updates fact sheet #23, dated September 17, 2004.

DARFUR EMERGENCY -- NUMBERS AT A GLANCE         SOURCE

Conflict-Affected Persons in
Darfur and Eastern Chad 2.2 million people      U.S. Government, European
Union, and United Nations

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
in Darfur   1.45 million people     U.N. Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Sudanese Refugees in Eastern
Chad  200,000 people    U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Conflict-Affected Persons in
Darfur Receiving Food Assistance    940,000 people during August  U.N.
World Food Program (WFP)
       North Darfur -- 1.5 CMR; 2.5 U5MR
       West Darfur -- 2.9 CMR; 3.1 U5MR
       Kalma Camp (South Darfur) -- 3.8
Crude Mortality Rates (CMR)1 and
Under-five Mortality Rates
(U5MR)2 for Darfur      CMR; 11.7 U5MR    Preliminary data from the U.N.
World Health Organization (WHO)

Total FY 2004 USG Humanitarian Assistance to Darfur: $179,207,722
Total FY 2004 USG Humanitarian Assistance to Eastern Chad: $58,964,552

Total FY 2004 USG Humanitarian Assistance for the Darfur Emergency:
$238,172,274

Total FY 2003 -- 2004 USG Humanitarian Assistance for the Darfur 
Emergency: $240,243,848


CURRENT HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

Security, Humanitarian Access, and Response Capacity

On September 18 in Nyala, the International Committee of the Red Cross 
(ICRC) handed over to the Government of Sudan (GOS) Humanitarian Aid 
Commission (HAC) eight people who had been detained by the Sudan 
Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A). ICRC acted as an intermediary for the 
release of the detainees, which included HAC employees and Sudanese 
journalists, who had been held since August 18.

On September 18, Congressmen Jim Kolbe and Jesse Jackson, Jr. joined USAID 
Administrator Andrew S. Natsios and other USAID officials on a site visit 
to SLM/A-held areas in North Darfur. According to the USAID/DART, 
Administrator Natsios reiterated with SLM/A leaders the importance of 
U.N.-established ground rules for humanitarian operations in the SLM/A 
areas. In addition, the Administrator pointed out that armed attacks on 
U.N. or non-governmental organization (NGO) convoys constitute attacks on 
the U.S. and other donors, since the donors are funding the operational 
humanitarian organizations.

The U.N. reported on September 19 that the number of humanitarian 
organizations responding in Darfur continues to increase. According to the 
U.N., there are approximately 60 international NGOs registered to operate 
in the Darfur region. Approximately 40 of these NGOs already have 
substantial operations and 20 have started to set up operations. The U.N. 
reports that increased access to SLM/A areas, particularly in the Jebel 
Marra region, has enabled NGOs to expand programs to these areas recently. 
However, the number of people affected by conflict has also increased in 
recent months due to a combination of increased humanitarian access to 
opposition-held territory and new displacement from villages in Darfur.

Armed Conflict and Violence against Civilians Continue

According a September 21 OCHA estimate, 100,000 IDPs in Darfur could not 
be reached by humanitarian workers in August due to clashes between armed 
groups and general insecurity. The spokesperson stated that of the 
unreachable population, 70,000 were located in South Darfur, 25,000 in 
North Darfur, and 5,000 in West Darfur.

In North Darfur, international media sources report that clashes between 
the GOS army and opposition forces continue to hinder humanitarian 
agencies' ability to reach concentrations of IDPs and assess their 
humanitarian situation. Reports indicated that the U.N. was not able to 
send an assessment mission on September 18 to villages outside Tawilah, 
located 70 km west of El Fasher, due to armed clashes in the area. The 
U.N. stated that it received similar reports on September 16 of fighting 
in Ailliet, approximately 250 km southeast of El Fasher.

According to the U.N., while the number of attacks on villages in Darfur 
has decreased somewhat, there are increased reports of violence against 
individuals. According to ICRC, sporadic armed clashes and an increase in 
banditry in Darfur continued to create an atmosphere of insecurity. In 
September, approximately 1,000 new families, mainly women and children, 
arrived on the outskirts of El Fasher, North Darfur, according to ICRC.

Child Abductions

According to the U.N., two children aged 10 and 12 who had been previously 
abducted by the Jingaweit in Tawilah, North Darfur, returned to Abu Shouk 
settlement in North Darfur on September 19. The children reportedly 
explained that they escaped, but that the Jingaweit were detaining other 
children and using them to tend cattle. Save the Children/U.K. (SCF/UK) 
has initiated the process to reunify the children with their families.

Protection

Save the Children (SCF), in coordination with the U.N. Children's Fund 
(UNICEF) and the ICRC, has begun registering children separated from their 
families and facilitating protection activities in 10 settlements in West 
Darfur. SCF has created children's activity centers in each settlement to 
provide structured activities in safe spaces for IDP children. To date, 
SCF reports 43,395 participants have attended these activities, supported 
by 87 IDP volunteers.

During September, Oxfam/UK will launch a one-month pilot project to 
distribute firewood to 9,000 IDP families in Kabkabiyah. NGOs and U.N. 
agencies continue to examine the feasibility of addressing the link 
between firewood collection and rape by shifting the IDP population to 
alternative fuels such as charcoal, introducing fuel-efficient stoves to 
reduce the demand for firewood, and improving security patrols in firewood 
collection areas.

Food Assistance

Through September 20, WFP completed food distributions to 62 percent of 
targeted beneficiaries for the month. At this rate, WFP may exceed 90 
percent of the planned distribution levels for September. With the 
September arrival of the last shipment of all-terrain trucks for overland 
transport of food assistance, WFP expects to reach all beneficiaries with 
full rations in October, except for those whose access is impeded by 
security reasons. Preliminary estimates indicate that 1.7 million 
beneficiaries out of the estimated 2 million will be accessible, with the 
remaining 300,000 residing in insecure areas.

WFP and partner organizations have completed field assessments to 
determine the state of food security and nutrition in Darfur. Results of 
the assessment will confirm the numbers of beneficiaries to be targeted 
for food distribution and form the basis for WFP's resource and program 
planning for 2005.

Sudanese Refugees in Eastern Chad

The Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration 
is currently visiting Chad and Sudan as part of an international 
delegation headed by UNHCR. In Chad, the delegation will meet with Chadian 
government officials and NGO representatives to discuss the needs of the 
approximately 200,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad.

Notes:

1 According to WHO, the emergency threshold for crude mortality is 1 death 
per 10,000 people per day.

2 According to WHO, the emergency threshold for under-five mortality is 2 
deaths per 10,000 children under five per day.

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