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Media Statement, 19th May, 2006
Unless the security situation improves dramatically in the
coming days in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, GOAL will be forced
to suspend operations, cutting off the vital life-line to over 200,000
people reliant on the agency for survival.
Tensions in displacement camps are extremely high since the government
and a Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction signed peace terms on May 5.
A rival faction of the SLA and the smaller Justice and Equality Movement
(JEM) rejected the deal, and they have until the end of May to sign a
peace agreement. Communities in the camps fear that the government may
force their return to rural communities where reports of attacks by government
supported Janjaweed militia remain a significant problem.
Yesterday saw the GOAL team suspend deliveries after areas under the
control of SLA became “no-go areas” for GOAL.
In a statement, GOAL’s CEO, John O’Shea said
“Cars are being hijacked, contents looted, military clashes are
widespread and banditry reigns, making it impossible for us to get aid
to where its needed.
“The situation has become too precarious for GOALies to operate
in. GOAL cannot in all conscious send out staff into areas where GOAL’s
safety can no longer be guaranteed.
“Three and a half million are dependent on humanitarian aid where
often the conflict has taken away their traditional means of livelihood.
The worst thing is that it will inevitably be the most vulnerable and
most needy that will suffer the most when more aid workers pull out.”
The UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution on Tuesday
calling for strict observance of a new peace accord in Darfur and an acceleration
of arrangements for a United Nations peacekeeping force to replace the
strapped African Union force. But it’s a decision taken too late,
according to O’Shea.
“The international community’s failure to act over three
years of hell since the conflict first erupted has lead to the deaths
of 300,000 and displaced millions. Two weeks after trouble first broke
out, aid agencies in the field warned of the imploding genocide and begged
the United Nations to take action to bring an end to the brutal campaign
- our calls fell on deaf ears.”
GOAL has worked in Darfur since the start of the tragedy. Last January
GOAL tragically lost an aid worker when a UN helicopter crash-landed in
an emergency evacuation in Jebel Mara, a region completely off limits
to aid agencies since.
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