21.05.2008 - Source: ReliefWeb

Darfur: Report on situation of internally displaced people (IDPs) (history and current situation) ("Sudan: Internally displaced persons in Darfur - taking stock"), Autor: Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement [ID 23343]

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28.02.2008 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Darfur: About 650,000 or half of all children do not receive an education, despite efforts by various organisations to provide schooling in camps and towns, an international NGO said ("Hundreds of thousands of Darfur children not in school") [ID 22526]

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23.01.2008 - Source: BBC News

Darfur: Upsurge in banditry is threatening food supplies to the region, the UN warns ("Darfur banditry 'may cut rations'") [ID 22166]

"The World Food Programme says so far this year 22 trucks have been stolen and 18 drivers have gone missing. [...]

[Amnesty International] said security was deteriorating, most of the camps for displaced people were awash with weapons, and young Darfuris were increasingly angry and frustrated. [...]

Attacks on trucks carrying WFP supplies, abductions of drivers and trucks, looting and beatings of WFP-contracted drivers to intimidate them have increased in recent months, the UN said in a statement."

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13.12.2007 - Source: Refugees International

Darfur: Displaced people continue to languish in camps unprotected from violent attacks and are increasingly cut off from humanitarian assistance; humanitarian workers have become easy targets of all sides (attacks by rebel groups, armed militias, and bandits, expulsions by government, resource-draining bureaucratic impediments) ("Humanitarian Action Still Under Fire in Darfur") [ID 21832]

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26.11.2007 - Source: International Crisis Group

Situation in IDP camps in Darfur: Fighting continues to cause displacement; malnutrition rates on the rise; camps are overcrowded, awash with weapons and banditry ("Darfur's New Security Reality") [ID 22314]

"Since the DPA signature, more than half a million people have been displaced, bringing total IDPs to nearly 2.2 million.

For the first time since 2004, the humanitarian community reports a rise in malnutrition rates, with those in North Darfur and elsewhere higher than emergency levels. [...]

Fighting between rebel groups, the government and government-related forces continues to cause displacement.

Camps are overcrowded, and agencies overstretched and under attack.

The camps reflect the insecurity at large and are home to a disempowered, disenfranchised, overcrowded community with little hope.

In past peace efforts, the mediation considered that IDPs were represented by the rebels and the Arabs by the government but the rebel groups, the NCP and DPA signatories are all now making the camps a new conflict theatre, awash with weapons and banditry.

Though he denied the camps were becoming rebel bases, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said, "[t]he politicisation and militarisation on the ground is a fact of life you can't ignore".

On 17 November, UN Special Envoy Jan Elliason admitted that fresh arms are pouring into the IDP camps in Darfur and that the IDP leaders are becoming more organised to exert pressure and raise political demands, and expressed concern that they might take extreme positions.

In camps around El Fasher, local authorities are selecting, arming and training groups. Allegedly, they are working with Minni's forces in the area, as many in the El Fasher camps are his sympathisers.

In the camps around Zalingei, for example, there has been severe insecurity.

Over the past six months, twenty assassinations or attempted assassinations (pitting suspected rebel sympathisers against suspected government sympathisers) were reported; an IDP suspected of working for the national security agency was shot; guards have been fired at; the deputy sheikh was killed; and camp operations were suspended because of demonstrations and rumours of kidnappings of international aid workers.

Kalma camp, in South Darfur, is considered one of the most volatile and politicised, with high levels of murders, assassinations and vigilante justice.

In mid-August, armed men seized weapons from a police post near Al Salam camp, killing a policeman, and took them to Kalma.

The government mobilised Border Guards and Central Contingency units to raid the camp, searching for the weapons and rebels. They found the weapons and arrested twenty people, whom they called common criminals, not rebels.

In the run-up to the talks in Libya, violence around the camps increased, with three government soldiers reportedly killed at Hamadiya camp near Zalingei and an alleged government attack on Kalma camp."

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29.08.2007 - Source: UN Security Council

Denial of humanitarian access in Darfur (July 2006 - July 2007) ("Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Sudan [S/2007/520]") [ID 21613]

"The insecurity and lawlessness prevailing in many areas of Darfur is seriously hampering humanitarian action.

On 13 September 2006, armed men abducted a United Nations agency truck loaded with commodities near Abdel Shakour, in Northern Darfur. The driver and truck were released two days later.

Parties to the conflict are failing to address the consistent targeting and hijacking of the vehicles of humanitarian agencies in Darfur.

Such attacks bear considerable consequences for children."

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29.08.2006 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Humanitarian operation on the verge of collapse due to escalating violence ("Risk of humanitarian disaster in Darfur - UN official") [ID 15889]

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01.08.2006 - Source: Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children

28 percent of school-aged children are now in school ("Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction: Darfur Case Study") [ID 15886]

"Lack of access to education has long been a problem in Darfur due to the marginalization of the region by the Government of Sudan as well as the rural nature and dispersed distribution of the population. Currently, UNICEF estimates that 28 percent of school-aged children are now in school in Darfur, more children than before the conflict began.xxviii Over 340,000 displaced children between six and 13 are attending school, nearly half of who are girls.xxix This finding is illustrative of the historical neglect and lack of support from Khartoum for education in Darfur insofar as enrollment rates are the highest in history for the region. Though increased school enrollment is positive, the trend is unstable as it is heavily dependent on international aid and to some degree the social dynamic of camps. In Chad for example, children continue to work but the absence of livestock and fields allow them more time to attend school – a situation that has allowed for greater participation amongst girls.xxx International aid has helped construct classrooms, train and recruit teachers, provide school uniforms, school materials and conduct campaigns to target enrollment among girls.xxxi However, the failure to see education as a life-saving activity and the consequential lack of secure funding for FY07, the anticipated emphasis on aid to returnees at the expense of those who remain displaced, and the questionable support of Khartoum puts these advances at risk."

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