صّور دارفور ... في متحف الهولوكوست اليهودي ...

Quote: Note: Jerry Fowler, staff director of the Committee on Conscience, recently traveled to Chad to meet refugees from Sudan. The trip was made possible with the assistance of Catholic Relief Services, which is helping run three refugee camps in Chad

President Ken Hackett Visits Darfur as the
Sudan Humanitarian Crisis Continues

CRS President Ken Hackett was the first CEO of a U.S. relief agency to visit Darfur. He traveled to Sudan with several USCCB members to assess humanitarian and security conditions in this region, where more than 1.2 million people are facing insecurity, food shortages, and threats of disease outbreaks. Since his return, Ken has shared his thoughts on the crisis with local, national and international news programs



http://www.catholicrelief.org/our_work/where_we_work/ov...it_press_release.cfm





Ken Hackett and Sudanaid Secretary General Francis Bassin visit with a displaced woman in an informal IDP settlement known as Tonkitir outside of Mershing in South Darfur. Ken remarked that the situation in this camp was as deplorable as any he had seen elsewhere in his travels. Internally displaced people in Tonkitir have only received plastic sheeting and are facing limited access to water and food as well as an inhospitable terrain in the immediate vicinity, which is so barren that cultivation is virtually impossible





Father Michael Perry, Bishop John Ricard and Ken Hackett take a photo with IDP women in Ummgosen near Mershing in South Darfur after the women requested the opportunity to share their stories with them. The women stated that they are thankful for the assistance provided to them in Ummgosen, but remain fearful of attacks by militia when they venture into the surrounding area to gather firewood





Ken Hackett and members of his party (which includes delegates from Caritas, the Nyala Parish and the USCCB) listen to the concerns of IDP leaders in Ummgosen, a displaced settlement near the town of Mershing in South Darfur. These IDPs expressed their sincere gratitude for the construction of 225 huts and three schools, and the donation of water hand pumps and survival kits (made possible through the CI/ACT consortium to which CRS has provided a $100,000 contribution.) They also stated that they remain extremely vulnerable, cannot leave the immediate confines of their settlement, and fear forced returns to their original homes, which were destroyed by the Janjaweed






This photo depicts the cruel reality of life in the Tonkitir camp in the Mershing area of South Darfur. IDPs interviewed stated that, thus far, many people living in Tonkitir have not yet received food aid as registration with the UN is not yet complete. Due to a lack of wood and other locally available building materials, shelters are often basic. Some IDPs complain that sanitation facilities within the camp are inadequate.








The Greatest Humanitarian Crisis Facing The World Today


Internally displaced people at Caritas-ACT camp in Al Hamidia.
More than a million lives are endangered as the humanitarian crisis in Sudan worsens. Tens of thousands of people in the Darfur region of Western Sudan have been killed, and more than one million people have been forced from their homes by the violence that has engulfed Western Sudan for more than a year.

Despite tentative peace negotiations and agreed upon ceasefires, there appears little hope that the 198,000 refugees who've crossed the Sudan border into Chad—as well as the estimated 1.2 million internally displaced—will return to their homes in Darfur anytime soon.

The Darfur region is divided into three states—North, West and South—with a population of nearly six million people, one third of whom are expected to need emergency aid by the end of the year. Access to Darfur was largely prohibited until May of 2004. The delayed access, ongoing security issues, and impending rains are making it extremely difficult for the world's humanitarian agencies to provide aid in time to prevent catastrophic loss of life.

With this urgency in mind, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.N. Secretary General Koffi Annan traveled to the region to press the Government of Sudan to provide security and access for humanitarian agencies so they may work to save lives. CRS President Ken Hackett is also visiting Sudan as a sign of global solidarity and to encourage greater access for global humanitarian aid.

CRS President Ken Hackett also visited Sudan in early August to assess humanitarian and security conditions in South and West Darfur. He was the first president of a U.S. private voluntary organization to visit Darfur since the crisis began. He traveled with Bishop John Ricard and Father Mike Perry, both of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and visited with high-level Sudanese government and church officials, as well as with internally displaced Sudanese in Ummgosen and Tonkatir camps near Mershing, South Darfur.

Said Hackett, "Security conditions are volatile and inconsistent, endangering any ability for displaced persons to voluntarily return to their villages, as well as aid agencies to effectively respond. We've been told that militia are present near settlements and continue to attack villages and border areas. The result is few safeguards for populations already vulnerable, and unprotected access to basic means for survival."