World Vision plans first of many shipments to alleviate suffering in Darfur

MISSISSAUGA, Ont., July 7, 2004 - World Vision will test the Government of Sudan's promise to completely open its borders to humanitarian aid workers by sending an airlift into the war-torn region of Darfur in western Sudan next week.

The decision to mount the first direct-to-Darfur airlift was made following an announcement by the Sudanese government to lift restrictions on humanitarian workers now inside the country, streamline the process for more aid workers to enter Sudan, and permit the use of such relief efforts as emergency airlifts. At the same time, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan promised that the world body would do its utmost to help relieve the suffering of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Darfur and Sudanese refugees fleeing into Chad.

"The needs in Darfur are immense," says Dirk Booy, World Vision Canada's vice-president of international and Canadian programs. "Despite delays in assisting the people of Darfur, it seems that all interested parties have finally come to terms with the numbers affected and the severity of their conditions. It is particularly important now that the international community ensures the Sudanese government opens a corridor for humanitarian access to Darfur, and keeps it open. We are asking the Canadian government to support the UN on this demand."

The first airlift -from Nairobi, Kenya, on Sunday or Monday - will include 9,600 mosquito nets. There is great concern that the conditions in the camps will result in many more cases of malaria than usual during the rainy season.

If all goes well with the first shipment, World Vision will follow with a second airlift from its warehouse in Brindisi, Italy. This shipment will provide much needed water purifiers and sanitation equipment for those who have fled to the camps to escape from the Janjaweed militia.  The flight will also include equipment for the establishment of a World Vision relief base in Darfur.

As well, World Vision is quickly assembling staff to distribute 17,000 tonnes of food to 200,000 displaced people in Darfur for the World Food Program (WFP). The possibility of supplemental and therapeutic feeding in the worst areas of Darfur is also being discussed with the WFP.

World Vision continues emergency relief in eastern Chad, assisting the more than 150,000 Sudanese refugees already there. World Vision has worked in Sudan since 1972, delivering health, water and sanitation, food aid, peacebuilding, child protection and emergency programs in various parts of the country.

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian relief and development organization active in more than 90 countries around the world, providing help to more than 85 million people each year.