International humanitarian agencies may be forced to withdraw from Darfur because of an escalation in violence, GOAL warned today.
Hot on the heels of a UN report outlining a sharp deterioration in the security situation in the troubled Sudanese province, GOAL's CEO, John O'Shea, warned:
"The world may soon witness another Rwanda-style genocide.
"It is clear that the International Community has been unable to stem the flow of deaths -- and the aid community realises the time is fast approaching when the region may be deemed too insecure for relief activity."
GOAL, who has worked in Darfur for almost three years, was recently forced to abandon one of its major health programmes in the Jebel Mara district, due to fighting between rebels and Janjaweed militia.
"We knew from day one that protection was needed in Darfur. But the International Community has failed to do its job.
"The Security Council has not found the courage to take on the Sudanese Government nor face objections from Russia and China to deploy UN peacekeepers.
"The hapless people of Darfur -- some two million of them -- have been abandoned to thugs and mercenaries."