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Letter to the editor, Irish Examiner, 27th July 2006
Sir,
That three aid workers were beaten to death in Darfur on Thursday,
is yet another stark reminder of the extreme threat of danger that
aid workers operate under in this cursed region.
The incident follows an attack on two non-governmental
organisations in the Jebel Mara area two days earlier, and the fatal
shooting of an NGO driver attacked by bandits in Darfur's El Geneina
days earlier.
GOAL is extremely concerned about the deterioration
of the security situation in Darfur. We have been unable to access
our 11 clinics in much of the region, cutting off a lifeline to
some 200,000 people.
Grossly outnumbered, naive, ill-equipped, underfunded,
and outgunned, the African Union have failed to quell the bloodshed,
protect civilians and aid workers, and to keep aid channels open.
Despite pressure from the United States, the European
Union and the United Nations on Sudan to allow a U.N. mission to
replace the African Union force in Darfur, Sudan has repeatedly
rejected the mission transfer, likening a U.N. presence in Darfur
to a Western invasion.
Meantime the lives of 400,000 have already been taken
by the conflict, and some 2.4 million displaced people continue
to swell the already strained camps.
Yours sincerely,
JOHN O’SHEA
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