Increasing Attacks Against Aid Workers in Darfur, Congo

by Michael Bear · 2009-09-13 13:04:00 UTC
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The good and kind folk at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs have recently released two reports, showing a disturbing trend of increased attacks against aid workers in Darfur and Congo.

Granted, this isn't a tremendous suprise, given the fact that both Darfur and Congo remain distinctly not-happy places.  The attacks themselves are bad enough - what makes the situation even worse is that such attacks make it increasingly difficult for humanitarian agencies to reach those most in need.

OCHA reports that in Darfur "[t]he number of killed,  injured and detained aid workers in the first 8 months of 2009 has already almost reached the levels of  total figures for the years 2008 and 2007."

Overall, seven humanitarian staff and three staff from the joint UN-AU peacekeeping force (UNAMID) have been killed.  In addition, a total of 11 humanitarian and UNAMID staff have been kidnapped, 22 have been wounded, 29 have been been either physically or sexually assaulted, and 56 have been either arrested or temporarily detained by the Sudanese Government.

(Looks like the recent comments by Rodolphe Adada - head of the UNAMID peacekeeping mission - that the situation for humanitarian workers had improved might not be so accurate after all.  Win some, lose some.  And, as a bonus - a map showing all the damaged and destroyed villages in Darfur from 2003 through 2009.)

An OCHA report looking at North Kivu province in the eastern Congo also painted a rather bleak picture.  According to the report, "incidents against humanitarian workers have increased 26 percent in the first six months of 2009, compared to the same period in 2008 in North Kivu."  Whereas last year armed groups were responsible for most of the attacks, this year bandits are the greater threat.  Probably also not a good idea to walk alone at night in Goma.

UN security restrictions give a sense of how rampant insecurity impacts humanitarian access.  According to the OCHA report, UN agencies need military escorts to access about 80% of the displaced population - totaling 900,000 people - in North Kivu.

[Photo of UN helicopter in Darfur from Nite_Owl's photostream on flickr - Creative Commons, Attribution]

Michael Bear
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