Sudan: Darfur - Humanitarian partners race to deliver aid as rainy season approaches

(New York: 19 May 2004) - As the June rainy season approaches in Darfur, UN humanitarian agencies and their non-governmental organization (NGO) partners are racing to bring aid to people in need.
By mid-may, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) had already distributed 2,200 MT of food to some 126,000 beneficiaries in Darfur. WFP plans to reach between 450,000-500,000 people with food this month. The UN's food agency seeks to serve a total of 1.2 million beneficiaries at present, but may have to increase that number, depending on ongoing assessments and access conditions.

For its part, the International Committee for the Red Cross will expand its distribution of shelter items to include approximately 100,000 beneficiaries before the rainy season. The NGO GOAL is distributing some 24,000 blankets. CARE will help organize trucking of the blankets to GOAL's distribution points in Kutum.

First distributions of shelter and cooking supplies from a centralized stockpile are scheduled to begin on May 27th when a week-long distribution by SC (Save the Children) will target an estimated 37,000 IDP families. Beneficiaries are targeted through the on-going food distributions. Additional Shelter/NFI distribution plans from Concern and Medair is awaited. Similarly, MSF-France distributed 14,358 blankets alongside their blanket food distribution in Mornei.

In the health sector, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has deployed two nutrition consultants to conduct training and management of acute malnutrition in Darfur. They will also carry out quality control/monitoring visits to therapeutic feeding sites and provide technical supports to implementing partners. Also, planning for the measles immunization plan in all 3 Darfur states has now been finalized. The campaign is scheduled to begin in the first week of June in South Darfur, followed by North and West Darfur beginning the second week of June.