Goal withdraws Darfur staff

The aid agency Goal is to withdraw its remaining international staff from Darfur because of the deteriorating security situation…

The aid agency Goal is to withdraw its remaining international staff from Darfur because of the deteriorating security situation in the Sudanese region.

In a statement, Goal said today the situation had forced it to withdraw all remaining international staff from Darfur after three years of work providing humanitarian relief to 220,000 war victims.

"The three remaining 'GOALies' are being evacuated, along with other international staff, to Khartoum, where the aid agency will run the programmes through local staff," the statement said.

The move comes eve of a worldwide day of protests over Darfur on Sunday.

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Goal's John O'Shea said: "For three years we have begged the international community to send in an

international peacekeeping force to protect innocent civilians and keep the aid channels open. But our cries have fallen on deaf ears, forcing us to take this very difficult decision.

"It is clear that the international community does not rate the lives of the four million in the region desperately in need of protection by the international community."

Mr O'Shea said that leaving the "already devastated" civilian population further exposed and at risk is the very last option but that it simply could not put the lives of its staff in danger.

"The risk to civilians is greater now than at any time in the past. Their fate now lies in the hands of the Sudanese government, the Janjaweed and numerous rebel factions."

Several Goal vehicles have been hijacked in recent months, and a Goal staff member was killed during a forced emergency evacuation earlier this year.

Thirteen aid workers have been killed in Darfur since the signing of a peace agreement in May.