Aid flight arrives in Sudan

Last updated at 08:20 26 July 2004


An Oxfam aid flight carrying £90,000 worth of vital supplies to ease the humanitarian crisis in Sudan landed in the southern Darfur region this morning.

Most of the supplies are bound for the Kalma camp where around 60,000 displaced Sudanese have sought refuge from violent conflict.

Engineers and logisticians were this morning at Nyala Airport in southern Darfur to oversee the offloading and transport of the 30 tonnes of aid.

The aid flight left from Kent International Airport at Manston yesterday following a two-day departure delay due to "sensitivities on the ground" in Sudan.

It was the third in recent weeks from Oxfam, which is one of 11 British charities involved in the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal raising money to tackle the Sudan crisis.

Adrian McIntyre, Oxfam spokesman in Sudan, today said the new equipment would help provide cleaner

water supplies and better sanitation.

He said: "Basically we have people whose immune

systems are already compromised. They have been on the road and living in makeshift shelters for months. They may be malnourished and have other multiple infections.

"Hopefully we can stabilise a very precarious situation."

An estimated 1.2 million people in southern Darfur have been made homeless by fighting and a wider campaign of looting, killing and rape by militia gangs.

The Conservatives have called for sanctions to be imposed on Sudan to force its government to act over the humanitarian crisis.

Shadow international development secretary John Bercow has accused the Sudanese government of complicity in the genocide.

He wants European Union or United Nations troops to be sent in to bring an end to the disaster.

Mr Bercow has praised International Development Secretary Hilary Benn for the action he has taken to help. Britain is the largest cash donor to the country.

The head of the British Army, General Sir Michael Jackson, has said Britain could send in 5,000 troops if called upon.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has refused to rule out military action but previously said Britain was not at that point "yet".

Mr Benn has defended Britain's handling of the crisis, pointing to the cash aid and its role in leading international action to get the Sudanese government to end the violence.

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