UN News Centre report Feb 27 says envoy Jan Pronk, travelled to South Darfur over the weekend, urging the parties there to exercise restraint and protect civilians. On 3 March, Mr Pronk is due to attend a ministerial meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council on the shift to a proposed Darfur peacekeeping force supervised by the UN.
Also today, JEM, one of the two main Darfur rebel groups, issued a press release saying protection of Darfur civilians, their honour and properties remains a top priority for JEM.
Meanwhile, in Sudan, between the 1st and 20th of February, the UN World Food Programme dispatched a total of 32,120 tons of food from logistical hubs to Darfur.
In Chad, the General Food Distributions for the month of February has been completed in all the camps except for Am Nabak, where distribution was temporarily suspended due to security concerns.
WFP plans to mobilize and distribute 731,000 tonnes of food to more than six million people across Sudan in 2006. In addition to general food distribution, assistance will be provided through support to recovery activities and therapeutic and supplementary feeding projects to ensure that the most vulnerable are reached.
Young people in Am Nabak Camp, Chad
Photo: Young women in Am Nabak Camp, Chad 17 March 2005. Aziza, the young girl on the left in this photo, fled to Chad in the wake of the violence in Darfur. Now, she lives in Am Nabak camp. She told RI about the difficulty of finding firewood in the area to cook with and the physical attacks on refugee women that have become so commonplace. In addition, many women have come to Chad without their husbands, often not knowing if they are alive, or simply hiding. Aziza's most pressing concern, though, is the lack of secondary school opportunities. She desperately wants to continue her studies. (Credit: Refugees International)
Photo: Young men in Am Nabak camp, Chad 17 March 2005. These young men are frustrated that their lives have been put on hold since they fled the violence in Darfur and arrived at Am Nabak refugee camp in Chad. Mohammed, a twenty-one-year-old young man, said that his village was completely destroyed in the fighting and his entire family killed, forcing him to flee on his own to Chad. Mohammed told RI, "Life has really changed since I left my village and came here. Before the attacks, many of us were entering university and some were about to finish high school. Now there is nothing for us. We cannot continue our studies." This frustration was echoed by all the young men and the one young woman in the tent. (Credit: Refugees International)
WFP convoy crosses Libya-Chad border
September 8, 2004 WFP video clip shows the first WFP convoy to carry emergency food aid across the Sahara desert crosses the Libya-Chad border en route to Sudanese refugees in Chad.
Footage fed through WFP's own satellite link direct from the Sahara shows the trucks carrying 440 tonnes of wheat flour leaving Libyan territory and heading into Chad.
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Quote of the Day
"Africa will change its destiny from one of decline to advance." - UK Prime Minister Tony Blair [Source: 10 Downing Street Big issues - Africa]
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