UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- The U.N. refugee agency has launched a supplementary appeal to fund security and aid for internally displaced persons in Sudan's restive Darfur region.
The $19.7 million supplement will go to the two million internally displaced persons uprooted by fighting between government troops and rebels, as well as attacks by Arab militia on African tribes, the agency announced Tuesday.
"Protection and security remain the most fundamental needs for IDPs and refugees in Darfur," the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said. "Key challenges are the ongoing displacement and the occupation of villages."
Some 230,000 Darfurian refugees have already fled into neighboring Chad. Beyond the 20,000 Chadian refugees in Darfur there are over 100,000 Chadian IDPs uprooted by inter-communal violence.
The three-year conflict between Government forces, allied militia and rebels has killed at least 200,000 people.
Despite the May peace agreement between the Sudanese Government and one of the rebel groups in Darfur, the security situation remains volatile, UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told a news briefing in Geneva.
"With constant fighting between government troops and rebels opposed to the (Darfur Peace Agreement), as well as regular attacks by Arab militia on African tribes, there is no prospect of return for internally displaced people in Darfur, nor for the more than 200,000 Sudanese refugees hosted in eastern Chad," she said.
