Darfur getting worse, says UN

WASHINGTON, Tuesday

The US said on Monday its diplomats had found worsening conditions, including water shortages, at camps for displaced people in Darfur and urged Khartoum to reverse a decision to expel 13 aid groups.

The State Department repeated it would hold Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir responsible for each death caused by the expulsion of the major aid groups this month.

The US Embassy’s chargé d’affaires in Khartoum, Alberto Fernandez, and officials from the USAid, travelled over the past week to El Fasher in northern Darfur and visited the Zam Zam camp to get a first-hand look at the impact of the expulsions, the department said.

“This crisis has been exacerbated by the March 4 and 5 expulsions,” concluded the department, providing details of the trip by Mr Fernandez and other US officials.

People fleeing

The US officials found resources, particularly water, at Zam Zam had been further strained by the recent arrival of 36,000 people fleeing fighting in the past two months between armed groups and the Sudanese government in Darfur.

Meanwhile, gunmen demanding a satellite phone have shot dead a Sudanese aid worker at his home in the Darfur region where he worked for a Canadian charity, the man’s employer said today.

“He was ambushed two days ago by men demanding a satellite phone.

“They beat him because he couldn’t provide them with a Thuraya (phone),” said Mark Simmons, Sudan country director for the Fellowship for African Relief.

“They came to his house at 9pm on Monday and when they didn’t find a phone there, they shot him,” he added. (Reuters)