By Charles W. Corey
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The situation in the Darfur region of Sudan "continues to deteriorate," with previous estimates of people at risk there now doubling to more than 2 million, warned Roger P. Winter, assistant administrator for democracy, conflict and humanitarian assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

In requested testimony before the U.S. Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations June 16, Winter joined Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Charles Snyder in updating the senators on the latest news from Darfur, western Sudan, where the humanitarian assistance situation is deteriorating as fast as the physical condition of the refugees both within and outside Sudan.

Accusing the Sudanese government of continuing to obstruct efforts to bring food, water and medical aid to the region, Winter addressed the stark topic of "anticipated mortality." He cited new statistics recently reported by the United Nations, which more than double the estimate of people now at risk in Sudan. That means, he soberly told the committee, that the "body count could dramatically balloon. The U.N. expects that the number of people at risk could rise to 2.2 million by October."

The at-risk population, he reminded everyone, has lost everything. "They have fled from their homes. In many cases, they have been displaced for six or nine months. What that means, because we have not had any access to those populations, is that they have not been eating right or that they have not been doing anything right. ... They are entirely dependent on other people to help them out.

"Their crops have been burned, their food stocks destroyed. They did not get a planting in this year, so this is going to last for a while. Their livestock are dead or have been stolen; their water sources have been destroyed. There is no shelter for them. ... So their bodies have been weakening for all these periods of time ... and the rains have started. ...

"The combination of the overcrowding, the weakness of their bodies, the diseases that are out there, the lack of sanitation and latrines and all of that kind of stuff is what kills them."

Emergency shipments of food alone cannot rectify the situation, he said. "It is not as easy as getting some food there" to save people, he warned. "There is a whole complex approach that needs to be taken" if people are to be saved.

(U.S. assistance in southern Sudan has averaged about $200 million annually to help with the country's war victims. In Darfur, the United States has committed $116 million that could rise to $300 million. The aid is primarily distributed through the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations, not through the government of Sudan.)

Turning to the unhelpful actions of the government of Sudan, Winter said: "The obstructions that the government has put in the way of these [emergency relief] programs guarantee that the body count rises. This monstrous pile of liabilities simply cannot be overcome and it guarantees that even if we do the best job that we possibly can, there will be a significant body count," he warned.

What is happening in Darfur "is not an accident!" Winter said emphatically, adding that the attacks by the jingaweit have been targeted. "You can have two villages right next to each other -- one with an African Sudanese population and one with an Arab Sudanese population. One is destroyed; the other is functioning perfectly. That is a pattern that we see across the board." It is widespread and very systematic, he said.

And there has not been "a single enforcement action that we are aware of that has been taken against the perpetrators. This has been going on for months. If the government wanted to rein them in, there are steps it could take. ..." In fact, Winter added, the jingaweit recently marched in a parade for President Omar al Bashir in south Darfur.

Winter said the government of Sudan has gradually allowed U.S. relief officials additional access to afflicted areas because "we make so much noise, we get our visas processed. ... But NGOs don't have the leverage we do, and other governments don't necessarily get treated as quickly as we do with respect to visas and permits."

The Sudanese government invents new obstructions to the relief agencies, he said, such as the recent insistence that UNICEF submit any drugs it uses in its programs in Sudan for testing in Sudanese laboratories, thus slowing down the delivery of those critically needed medicines.

Similarly, customs agents also plague the process, said the official, by impounding specialty medical equipment, commodities and vehicles that would be used to care for thousands of "stick children" [so called for their thin builds], who are at urgent risk of dying from starvation. Even USAID, he said, has had eight vehicles impounded and "tied up in customs" for months -- and then was billed by the Sudan government for storage costs.

Meanwhile, Sudanese authorities "don't allow us to photograph very often. They don't allow us to ask questions of a human rights nature. If a ‘minder' [government escort] is around we cannot do that kind of thing. So there are lots of problems that continue to hamper the relief operation."