UN refugee agency warns Sudan conflict has displaced millions; regional response 10% funded

Mamadou Diem Balde, regional director for the Eastern Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes for the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), told a UN Correspondents Association briefing that nearly 9 million Sudanese are internally displaced and about 4 million have fled to neighboring countries since fighting began nearly two years ago.

"My talking points haven't changed," Balde said, describing "massive violations of human rights" in Darfur and other parts of Sudan and urging an immediate cease-fire and stronger international support for refugees and host communities.

Balde said the Regional Refugee Response Plan launched in early February requests $1.8 billion to serve about 4.9 million refugees and immediate hosts. As of the briefing the plan was funded at roughly 10 percent, he said, and that shortfall threatens life-saving services including food, water, shelter, health and protection.

He cited recent attacks and killings at the Zamzam displacement site and at Abu Shuk near Al-Fashir in Darfur as examples of the violence displacing civilians and harming humanitarian workers; he said humanitarian partners have lost personnel to the violence. "When this happens, we also have to be able to prepare and be ready with our contingency plans," he said, noting preparations with authorities in Chad and elsewhere for further arrivals.

Balde summarized regional movements and numbers: Uganda has registered more than 70,000 arrivals from Sudan on top of the 1.8 million refugees it already hosts; Libyan figures exceed 200,000; refugees have also flowed to Chad, Egypt, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Central African Republic. He warned that limited funding will push more people to move along routes toward southern and eastern Africa, the Gulf and Europe.

Reporters at the briefing asked about registration and resettlement. Balde said host governments lead refugee registration in this region and that many are signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention; UNHCR supports those national registration systems. He said resettlement opportunities outside immediate host countries have been declining and that immediate neighbors bear a large share of responsibility for protection.

Balde urged diplomatic and financial support at an upcoming London conference of foreign ministers, saying the two goals are greater humanitarian assistance for refugees and stronger efforts to address the root causes of the Sudan conflict. "Great support to the refugees as well as to the refugee hosting countries is going to be hopefully achieved in London," he said.

The briefing closed after a question-and-answer session with reporters from the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, AFP and other outlets.