ACT-Caritas assists people displaced by violence near Zalingei, West Darfur
NEWS STORY | PUBLISHED: December 23, 2005
GENEVA/ROME -- Violent clashes between two tribes that began on December 9 in Nyangadoulu, approximately 25 kilometers northeast of Zalingei in West Darfur, Sudan, have resulted in at least 60 deaths and at least 49 people being treated at the Zalingei hospital for injuries. By December 12, the flare-up had also forced at least 200 households (700 individuals) from their homes. And by the evening of December 14, more than 400 additional internally displaced persons (IDPs) had arrived in Zalingei, bringing the reported total of newly displaced people close to 1,200.
The recent flare-up between the two tribes is the continuation of a conflict that began earlier.
The ACT-Caritas operation has a field office in Zalingei and is working with IDPs in the area in several sectors. In response to the current emergency, ACT-Caritas is providing non-food items from its stock in Zalingei for an initial 500 households, which comprise blankets, jerry cans, cooking sets and sleeping mats. ACT-Caritas had planned to form an emergency preparedness and response unit in 2006, but in response to this situation, it has formed a provisional team of three program managers who are monitoring the situation.
Meanwhile, further unrest on the western side of West Darfur province on the border with Chad in recent days has not affected any programs of ACT-Caritas, which is not operational in the area. But the escalating violence in West Darfur in recent months has hampered the relief efforts of humanitarian aid agencies.
