The loss of expertise following the expulsion or closure of 16 aid agencies cannot be replaced in the short run and has exacerbated the plight of displaced people in Darfur, the UN warned.  Aid activity in Darfur, western Sudan, was a network whose operations will be affected by the expulsion of 13 international agencies and the closure of three

Mahdi Qutbi, a senior member of the ruling National Congress Party, had said more than 200 Sudanese organisations would fill the void, including the Sudanese Red Crescent Society, which would provide food, healthcare and water.

Gaps

According to the findings, massive gaps remain for the 4.7 million conflict-affected Darfuris, in food, health, non-food items and shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene.

Clean water will become a key issue within a month, Haq said. More than 850,000 people are being supplied with potable water by the Sudanese government, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and national NGOs.

However, within four weeks, existing funds for spare parts and fuel for water pumps will be depleted, while sanitary facilities will need urgent maintenance to prevent disease outbreaks.

Healthcare will also face severe shortages soon, with salaries of the government staff secure only until the end of April. Some 650,000 people do not have access to full healthcare.

In terms of shelter, 692,400 people waiting for materials before the rains begin will not receive them unless the UN Joint Logistics Centre finds partners to carry out the distributions and gains access to existing distribution lists, she added.

Haq said the government had cooperated with the UN during the assessment "in an open and constructive atmosphere", adding that "all sides recognised the challenges and were committed to finding solutions".

By the beginning of May, as the hunger gap approaches, and unless the World Food Programme has found partners able to take on the mammoth distribution task, these people will not receive their rations

She called for the lifting of restrictions on aid agencies: "Prevailing bureaucratic impediments should be lifted and security conditions should not complicate issues such as access if the people of Darfur are not to end up facing the most serious upheaval in years."

Security fears

"The report is grim reading, but it is not unexpected: we knew the problems facing Darfur were horrendous," said an aid worker in Darfur, on condition of anonymity.

Security fears have since continued to increase. The joint UN–African Union peacekeeping force to Darfur reported on 24 March that several attacks against aid workers had taken place in recent days.

These included an ambush by armed men on camels on 21 March on four Sudanese staff working in West Darfur for the Fellowship for African Relief (FAR) and Tearfund. One was beaten, another robbed. On 23 March, another Sudanese FAR staff member was shot dead in Kango Haraza, West Darfur. (IRIN)