Khartoum — The Assistant Commissioner for Refugees in Darfur, Mujib Yagoub, called on those in Sudan to rehabilitate villages, provide security, and the provide the necessary funding; to start the voluntary return programme in order to find a solution for the 350,000 refugees, in addition to 100,000 stranded at the eastern Chadian border.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Yagoub said that the state must play its role and revise its theory regarding the refugees in eastern Chad.

He also stated that at least 7000 refugees near the Sudan-Central African Republic border were distributed amongst a number of centres in the Um Dafouk region.

Yagoub said that a team had been dispatched to register them," but the security conditions at the border prevented their registration", adding that "we cannot register them in the volatile areas".

Eastern Chad

More than 38,000 Darfuri refugees in the Oure Cassoni camp in eastern Chad suffer from severe food shortages, a community activist reported from the camp.

"After the suspension of food aid by the World Food Programme (WFP) in October last year, the situation deteriorated rapidly," he explained. "We still could cultivate some crops on the farmlands around the camp, but the harvest season end last year completely failed due to large numbers of pests. In particular children, elderly, and pregnant women are suffering from symptoms of malnutrition."

Last year, the WFP announced that it had to cut rations in Sudan due to funding shortages.

WFP is having to prioritise assistance based on the resources available and "make heart-wrenching decisions, knowing that we cannot help everyone in Sudan who needs it," the UN organisation said in a statement in July last year.