US Agency for International Development
Darfur: Humanitarian Emergency Fact Sheet #24 (FY 2005)
1 October 2004


Note: This report updates fact sheet #23, dated September 24, 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

Crude Mortality Rates (CMR)1 and
Under-five Mortality Rates
(U5MR)2 for Darfur      Kalma Camp (South Darfur) -- 3.8 CMR; 11.7 U5MR
Preliminary data from the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO)

Total FY 2004 USG Humanitarian Assistance to Darfur:$193,850,859
Total FY 2004 USG Humanitarian Assistance to Eastern Chad: $61,965,972

Total FY 2004 USG Humanitarian Assistance for the Darfur Emergency:
$255,816,831

Total FY 2003 -- 2004 USG Humanitarian Assistance for the Darfur Emergency:
$257,175,433



CURRENT HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

Security

The U.N. reports that security and protection incidents have recently
increased, particularly in North and South Darfur. As a result, displacement of
civilians continues in both states.

According to the U.N. Joint Logistics Center (UNJLC), three major transport
hubs -- El Fasher in North Darfur, Geneina in West Darfur, and El Obeid in
Northern Kordofan -- have all reported a decrease in rain and a consequent
increase in overland access to previously inaccessible areas of Darfur where
internally displaced persons (IDPs) have gathered. However, truck drivers
continue to report attacks by the opposition Sudan Liberation Movement/Army
(SLM/A) along the road from Ed Da'ein to Nyala, South Darfur and the U.N. World
Food Program (WFP) has reported bandit attacks near Um Kaddadah in North
Darfur.

African Union

On September 29, the Government of Sudan (GOS) stated that it has agreed to
allow African Union (AU) forces to monitor the police in IDP camps.

Humanitarian Access

Humanitarian agencies in South Darfur have reported that the GOS is taxing
private vehicles used by relief workers when they pass through checkpoints.

Mortality

On September 29, Medecins sans Frontieres-Holland released the results of three
nutritional and retrospective mortality surveys at different sites in South
Darfur. Based on the results of the surveys, the humanitarian situation of IDPs
in Kalma Camp and the IDPs and residents of Kass remains critical, and the
situation in Muhajeria may be deteriorating as shown by mortality rates above
emergency thresholds.

Protection

According to the USAID/Disaster Assistance Response Team (USAID/DART), on
September 23, the GOS forcibly relocated a significant number of IDPs that had
settled in Bisharia, 2 km south of El Fasher. Representatives of the U.N.
visited Bisharia on September 24 and found the IDPs surrounded by armed police.
The U.N. representatives negotiated with the police and eventually advised the
families to go to Abu Shouk Camp outside of El Fasher. The IDPs reported that
after international humanitarian staff left, they were beaten by GOS military,
police, and armed militias. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has scheduled a meeting with the GOS to file a
complaint on behalf of the Bisharia IDPs that the forced return was a violation
of Article 2.1 of the memorandum of understanding that the GOS signed with the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) that states: 'The Government of
the Republic of Sudan confirms its policy of no involuntary return.'

Health

According to the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO), a potential outbreak of
meningitis in Mornei Camp was limited to 2 confirmed cases that were
immediately isolated. A recent WHO-led meningitis vaccination campaign
conducted in Mornei reached 93 percent of the targeted population. The ICRC is
currently conducting a mass vaccination campaign in South Darfur against
measles. The Sudanese Red Crescent Society and the GOS Ministry of Health are
supporting the campaign.

Water and Sanitation

The USAID/DART reports that although access to basic water and sanitation has
improved significantly in proximity to large urban areas, the majority of camps
for IDPs in less accessible areas have little or no access to water or
sanitation infrastructure.

Food

A recent International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) assessment in the
region of Seleya, West Darfur, estimates that the coming harvest will barely
cover 20 percent of the overall food needs of the local population. WFP's
September distribution statistics indicate that 98 percent of the targeted
beneficiaries in Darfur and 87 percent in Chad received food rations. The
Darfur statistics are based on food dispatched from the major distribution hubs
in each state. WFP acknowledges that post-distribution monitoring procedures
need to be put in place, since there continue to be concerns about double
counting, distribution of incomplete rations, and inaccurate records.

On October 2, WFP will hold a preliminary debrief of its nutrition and food
security assessment. WFP expects the assessment to show an increase in the
number of IDPs requiring emergency food assistance to two million or more, and
has therefore increased its target for food distribution in Darfur to two
million, starting in October.

Sudanese Refugees in Eastern Chad

On September 28, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that
it had opened a tenth camp, Treguine, for Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad.
UNHCR opened Treguine to relieve the pressure on the overcrowded Breidjing
Camp, where approximately 42,000 people have been living in a camp originally
designed to accommodate 20,000 refugees. An eleventh camp is currently under
construction along the border with North Darfur to accommodate nearly 11,000
refugees living in an informal settlement in Am Nabak.

UNHCR reports that tension caused by disputes over resources has increased
between refugees and the local Chadian population. National Security Forces are
being deployed to patrol in and around the camps in order to improve security
following a series of attacks on refugees.

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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