Sudanese army surrounds Darfur refugee camps
The Sudanese army and police have surrounded several refugee camps in the war-torn region of Darfur and denied access to humanitarian groups, the UN said today.
“It started at 3am without any warning,” said Christiane Berthiaume, spokeswoman for the World Food Programme. “Agencies have been denied access to these camps since this morning.”
At least 160,000 refugees in western Darfur cannot be reached by road “because of insecurity”, Ms Berthiaume said.
The UN food agency has relocated a total of 88 aid workers from three camps in the Nyala region: Golu, Zalingie and Nertetie. Most of those evacuated are working for independent aid organisations rather than the UN, Ms Berthiaume said.
The agency still has three employees in Zalingie and Nertetie, but may evacuate them depending “on the evolution of the situation”, she said.
