Bishop warns of "humanitarian catastrophe" in Sudan; CRS goes in

Published: 2004-07-07

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Several days after Bishop John H. Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla., warned that the Darfur region of western Sudan faces a "humanitarian catastrophe" unless militia attacks are stopped and massive international aid is brought in, the Sudanese government allowed Catholic Relief Services to send its first aid representative to Darfur. "The time has come to move beyond endless debates about whether the targeting of black African Sudanese in Darfur constitutes ethnic cleansing or genocide. Thousands of innocent lives have been lost and hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of starvation," said Bishop Ricard, chairman of the U.S. bishops' international policy committee. He made the comments in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell just before Powell's June 30 visit to Sudan to seek removal of obstacles that were hindering the movement of aid and supplies into Darfur, where an estimated 1.2 million people have been driven from their homes by roving government-backed militias. In all, an estimated 2.2 million people are at risk. Ken MacLean, CRS emergency response team leader who arrived in Darfur July 6, told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from Nyala, Sudan, that he hoped to have additional team members admitted to the country within the next few days.

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