Refugees International and the George Wolf Operating Foundation are conducting a joint assessment mission to Darfur, western Sudan. The crisis in Darfur is considered the most urgent humanitarian emergency in the world today. More than one million people are displaced as the result of a campaign of ethnic cleansing carried out by Arab militias supported by the government of Sudan. Many of the displaced are in areas outside the reach of humanitarian agencies and vulnerable to continued attacks by the militias.

The RI mission follows visits to Sudan by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Both delivered a strong, consistent message to the government of Sudan that it must stop the militia violence and facilitate access for humanitarian organizations to meet the needs of the displaced. Failure to do so will result in further international action, though how far the UN Security Council will be willing to go to sanction the government in the event that it fails to comply with its obligations under international law is unclear.

The three-person team, including Fidele Lumeya, Shannon Meehan, and Daniel Wolf, will focus on the following issues:

• The extent to which the government of Sudan is living up to its own commitments to bring security to Darfur and facilitate humanitarian access;
  
• The status of the relief effort, particularly the extent of needs for further funding and logistical support;
  
• The status of people not presently in camps, if the team can travel outside of provincial towns where many of the camps for displaced people are located;
  The effectiveness of the ceasefire monitors deployed by the African Union.

The assessment mission will conclude on July 30, but the team will be filing reports from Darfur if communications permit.