The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has pledged to send a team of humanitarian aid workers to provide support and aid to the suffering people of Darfur by January 2005. The UMCOR is stepping up its efforts in Sudan by dispatching increased personnel aid to join the advocacy and financial aid already being given.

Recently, an three-member investigation team returned from the region after spending three weeks surveying the situation of the country. They reported that they had found a great need for basic relief efforts to prevent famine and to help displaced people return to their homes.

The Sudan conflict had seen more than 70,000 people killed and approximately 1.6 million civilians displaced from their homes. The fighting has come from ethnic conflicts over land and power in the region between pastoral Arabs in the north, and the agricultural Africans in the south and west.

Sudan has roughly 70 humanitarian organisations registered at present, but worryingly none of them are set up in the devastated region of Darfur. Another worry was also exposed by Jim Cox, who commented on the number of humanitarian agencies in the region: “At first we said that that’s a lot, however, when you deal with 1.6 million people displaced” the number is misleading. “It’s not about number of agencies; it’s about access to funding.”

A majority of the humanitarian agencies are working in camps set up in Chad. Cox also pointed out that internally displaced persons were not being considered refugees by the UN, and therefore are not eligible for benefits, which has generated many problems.

UMC’s Jim Cox said that they would now target the camps in the south, which each range from a few thousand people to over 25,000 people. He expressed the desire for the UMC to target those who are “most vulnerable”.

UMCOR has made a conscious effort to shift its endeavours from just providing financial aid to now giving operational aid. UMCOR began providing aid through the Action for Churches Together (ACT) network, but is now planning to send 5 aid workers to southern Darfur, as well as hiring 15-20 local Sudanese aid workers.

Increased humanitarian aid has been possible in recent times after huge international pressure was applied to the Sudanese government to allow humanitarian organisations access to the most affected regions.

The western region of Sudan has seen the heaviest fighting and, and survivors have fled the region to the southern region and to neighbouring Chad to live in camps. However, even in these regions they are still under the threat of attack, and also face the prospect of further hardships of famine and disease.

UNCOR has focussed on advocacy work to increase international awareness of the conflict, and when asked whether the situation in Darfur had improved at all, Jim Cox, executive director of UMCOR said, “Yes, because if you looked back four or five months ago, we couldn’t even have access. At least there has been enough pressure at the government to open up so that we can take a look around.” This he described as a “small but important step”.

Rev Randy R. Day, chief executive of the Board of Global Ministries said, “We must become even more active in providing assistance and in advocating fro international action to stop the violence. We must continue and increase both humanitarian and diplomatic efforts.”

He urged “the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union and the United States to intensify efforts aimed at persuading Khartoum to end the violence and prepare for the return of the refugees.”