Window of opportunity closing on assistance to 80,000 Sudanese refugees, MSF
Geneva, 15 Mar – (ANA) - Tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees in South Sudan urgently need humanitarian aid to be scaled up in a short window of opportunity that is rapidly closing before the rainy season starts, warns the international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Since last November, 80,000 refugees from Sudan’s Blue Nile State have sought shelter in two camps located in a remote and barren region of South Sudan where humanitarians confront massive logistic challenges to access and assist refugees. New arrivals tell of ongoing bombing and fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile State. In Doro and Jamam refugee camps, they have sought a safer place but they have found a harsh environment where their ability to survive is stretched to breaking point. “These refugees are left almost completely reliant on humanitarian assistance because this area has scarce water and food,” says Julien Matter, MSF’s emergency coordinator. (ANA)
FA/ANA/15 March 2012-------