Darfur Crisis Will Worsen in Weeks: US Envoy

The humanitarian situation in Darfur will worsen significantly in just a few weeks if aid organizations do not move quickly, says the new American envoy. Scott Gration said groups expelled by President Omar Bashir last month for allegedly colluding with the International Criminal Court to indict him on war crimes must be replaced, reports Reuters. “We are on the brink of a deeper crisis in Darfur,” he said.

Some refugee camps could be without water in just weeks. “We have to come up with solutions on the ground,” said Gration. “We have to increase the capacity and number of aid agencies” that can get assistance “to the hands and mouths of the people in these camps.” It is the retired Air Force general’s first trip to Sudan since being appointed in March. Bashir expelled 13 international groups and shuttered 3 local ones. (More Darfur stories.)