More than 27,000 new displaced in Darfur’s Jebel Marra in need of aid

Following fighting between rebel groups in Central Darfur’s Jebel Marra in early June, thousands of people fled their homes. About 27,000 people took refuge in the village of Toga, near Golo.

Others fled to Rokoro town, Togola and Jemeiza villages, the Sabanga gathering site for displaced, or sought refuge in the mountains, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan stated in its Situation Report on Thursday.

On June 16, the joint UN-AU Mission in Darfur (Unamid) and the UN Children’s Agency (Unicef) carried out a mission to Toga, 8 km north-east of the Unamid team site in Golo.

The estimated 27,000 new displaced, of whom 90 per cent are women and children, were found to be living under trees or out in the open without any shelter.

Based on general observations and reports from community leaders, the new displaced are in urgent need of food, emergency shelter and non-food items, water, as well as health and nutrition assistance.

In a mission carried out on June 12, Unamid distributed 10,000 litres of drinking water and handed over two water containers.

The World Food Programme (WFP) will distribute food to the people displaced from Daya village who are now sheltering in Rokoro town, following their registration by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

As for the displaced in Toga village, they need emergency shelter and non-food items are vital as the raining season has started. The urgent needs are for plastic sheets, jerry cans, plastic mats, blankets, cooking sets, clothes, and shoes for children.

Moreover, there is an urgent need for general food distributions, and the provision of drinking water, jerry cans, soap, and latrines. Health and nutrition services are required, including reproductive health and expanded programme on immunisation services. There are no schools at Toga village so emergency school assistance is needed as well.

Humanitarian organisations will distribute initial assistance. Once the numbers are verified, they will initiate a multi-sectoral response.

In early June, fighting broke out between the El Douk and the Boursa, factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement under the leadership of Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW), reportedly because of a conflict concerning gold mines in the Daya and Dorsa areas in Jebel Marra, Central Darfur.

In a press statement on Wednesday, Unamid’s Joint Special Representative Jeremiah Mamabolo called on the warring parties “to immediately stop fighting and resort to peaceful means in resolving their differences”.

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