The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jakob Kellenberger, has said he deplores the worsening conditions for people in Darfur where he has just returned from a five-day visit.

The ICRC is the only remaining humanitarian agency with expatriate staff on the ground in Gereida, where the British Red Cross has been working. The organisation has had to take over relief work in the camp, which was being carried out by other aid agencies, to supply some 120,000 internally displaced people with food, water and health care.

As fighting has escalated in many parts of Darfur over recent months, people have fled to more remote areas, making it harder for aid workers to reach them. Those who have stayed in their villages have been unable to tend their fields or go to local markets because of the violence.

Destitution

Nomadic communities have also been prevented from travelling centuries-old migration routes. This has meant that animals have congregated in small areas, placing an additional strain on water resources and grazing land. Whole communities are being caught up in a spiral of destitution leading them to seek refuge in the camps, which are already overflowing.

As well as Gereida, Mr Kellenberger visited Nyala and Al Fashir in south and north Darfur and Juba in southern Sudan. There were several reasons for this, his third visit to Sudan since 2004:

• To witness for himself the current humanitarian and security situation in Darfur.
• To urge the representatives of the government, Mini Minawi's faction of the SLA and armed groups who have not signed the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) to comply with their obligation under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and to spare them from harm.
• And to request safe access for the ICRC to those in need.

The ICRC currently has a staff of 160 expatriates and over 1,800 national staff based in all three Darfur States, southern Sudan and Khartoum.[21.02.07]