Darfur is threatened with the collapse of food supplies for 3 million people

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) warned on Wednesday of the collapse of humanitarian aid for 3 million people in distress in Darfur. The European Union (EU) cannot continue to look on while foreign aid workers are being terrorised by a systematic intimidation campaign and being driven out of the country. „Europe can no longer ignore the many cries for help from the aid workers in Darfur, but must at last take action”, demanded the GfbV Africa correspondent Ulrich Delius. The EU must impose sanctions immediately against the Sudanese government to secure complete guarantees for the free and safe passage of the aid organisations to the whole population in the west of Sudan, demanded the GfbV in a letter to the German foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeyer. „It is only massive political pressure on the Sudanese government which can prevent the death of hundreds of thousands more”, said Delius.

Darfur is today further than ever from the conclusion of a peace treaty. It is now a matter of preventing the worst from happening. „In the light of the catastrophic security situation the forced withdrawal of international aid workers will unleash a tragedy”, warned Delius.

Only by imposing sanctions (e.g. restriction of the freedom of movement of leading Sudanese politicians, freezing of foreign bank accounts) can the EU make it clear that attacks on aid workers are a violation of the fundamental norms of international law. It must be made emphatically clear to the Sudanese government that it is responsible for the protection of the aid workers and for the adequate humanitarian care of the civilian population in Darfur. It is totally unacceptable that the militia allied with the Sudanese army has also since November 2006 systematically also brought terror into the towns of Darfur. As a result the freedom of movement of the 14,000 aid workers has been reduced more and more. The transport of aid goods to the refugee camps could often only be managed by air, which is of course very expensive. So, more than 600,000 people can at present on account of the catastrophic security situation not be reached by aid workers.

An increasing number of aid organisations are faced with the question as to whether they will be forced for security reasons to discontinue their work in Darfur. At the end of January 2007 the French aid organisation „Doctors of the World” announced its withdrawal from Darfur. Since May 2006 twelve aid workers have been killed, five workers of aid organisations have disappeared and one worker has been raped. Aid organisations and installations of the United Nations have been attacked more than 30 times. In more than 400 cases vehicles of aid workers have been plundered or stolen. These unbearable conditions of work can no longer be tolerated.