World News 21-12-2004 Charity Forced Into "Worst Decision Ever" who: Save the Children what: Announces withdrawal from Darfur after murder of two aid workers where: Sudan when: Today snippet: Save the Children announced today that it was withdrawing from the Darfur region of Sudan "after the murders earlier this month of two of its aid workers there," reports The Guardian. The staff, both Sudanese nationals, "were in clearly marked humanitarian vehicles when they came under fire on December 12." Mike Aaronson, director general of Save the Children UK, told The Times that 250,000 people were dependent on the charity`s assistance in Darfur, and the withdrawal was "probably the worst decision I have ever had to take in my time at Save the Children". The charity`s announcement comes as a new row erupted between the government, rebels and observers from the African Union, whose helicopter came under fire during a supposed ceasefire on Sunday. "When there is some incident like this, we have to stop and take a break to assess the situation," an AU official told The Scotsman. "We might not be able to say whether fighting is still going on." And it is going on, certainly according to Mr Aaronson. He has criticism for the United Nations and AU, which is monitoring a ceasefire brokered between the Khartoum government and rebel groups. There have been "endless violations" of the ceasefire by both sides and a failure to clamp down on "increasing lawlessness", Mr Aaronson explained to Radio 4`s Today programme, and described the situation in Darfur as "an appalling indictment of the effectiveness of the international community". Adding that he believed Save The Children`s withdrawal would be the tip of the iceberg, Mr Aaronson warned of "a real threat to the whole humanitarian operation at the moment. It is bad, because the humanitarian situation is still very pressing and urgent." [... more]

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