Better News

Since all we've heard from Darfur recently has been bad, it's worth registering this sliver of good news:

The humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region, once labelled the world’s worst, appears to have eased - with the death toll from disease dropping - the World Health Organisation said yesterday.

Although confirmation was pending, there were clear signs the numbers dying from hunger and infectious diseases among the more than 1.5 million refugees in the western Sudan region had fallen, said the WHO’s crisis chief, David Nabarro.

A massive appeal for aid was launched last year when details began to emerge of the plight of hundreds of thousands of black Africans in Darfur, forced from their homes by Arab militia.

Millions of pounds was raised and a major relief operation was rolled out to tackle the looming humanitarian crisis. [...]

The WHO yesterday said that, while the crisis was far from over, some positive signs were becoming apparent that the relief operation had alleviated the worst of the suffering.

"The kinds of information that I am receiving on water supply, sanitation, food access and health services ... would mean that the death rates are likely to have reduced," Mr Nabarro said. "We have almost certainly gone down to within the threshold limit for a humanitarian crisis."

In particular, there appeared not to have been the outbreaks of dysentery, diarrhoea and hepatitis in October, November and December that had occurred over the previous three months, Mr Nabarro said.

Comments

[heh]

"some positive signs were becoming apparent that the relief operation had alleviated the worst of the suffering."

Probable translation:

The weak ones are mostly dead now. Overall, attrition has reduced the refugee population to the point where the resources available to them (which have not improved one iota) are no longer hopelessly overwhelmed. In other news, Mr. Nabarro is enjoying his new Land Cruiser.

[Dom]

I agree. It is hardly "good news" to say that a massacre has succeeded in its original mission.

[Mick H]

Well OK, "good news" is not the right phrase. It could be a great deal worse than it is though, if the WHO is to be believed.