In the best tradition of the U.N., treating the symptoms, not the cause.
U.N. agencies began urgently airlifting relief supplies into eastern Chad and western Sudan on Tuesday to help more than 600,000 Sudanese lacking food, water and medical supplies because of fighting, private aid agencies said.
Civil war usually does this.
Medecines Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, said its medical team was overwhelmed with patients who were either wounded in the fighting in western Sudan or were suffering from hunger-related diseases. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said a large UN Cessna cargo plane was beginning daily flights to deliver plastic sheeting and other equipment to build refugee camps for the Sudanese, said spokesman Ron Redmond.
Now we know why Alaska Paul hasn’t been around.
The United Nations and other relief organizations had complained the Sudanese government was blocking the delivery of aid to the stricken people inside the country. The government defended its restrictions, saying the area was too insecure, but it recently allowed the agencies back to Darfur.
Now that it’s been "pacified."
The situation in Darfur has deteriorated even as rebels in southern Sudan neared a comprehensive agreement to end the 21-year civil war there. Talks began Tuesday in neighboring Kenya, but do not include the rebels in Darfur.
How much oil in Darfur again? |