wfn.org | UMNS# 05084-UMCOR opens mission in Sudan

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UMCOR opens mission in Sudan

Feb. 8, 2005	 News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New
York {05084}

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.

By Linda Beher*

NEW YORK (UMNS) - The United Methodist Committee on Relief is now
providing direct relief and rehabilitation in the embattled Darfur
region of Sudan.

Opened in early February, the mission's priorities include providing
emergency aid and development services in water, sanitation, and
agriculture. The initial work will be concentrated in South Darfur, on
the western side of Sudan in northeastern Africa.

A staff of three will oversee the operation. They are:
·	Sashi Chanda, formerly with Save the Children in Angola, who has
degrees in theology and rural development;
·	Michael Tredway, a United Methodist layperson and retired military
officer from Raeford, N.C., who has extensive experience in humanitarian
aid and security issues; and
·	Frederick Opuni-Mensah, a liaison for UMCOR in Washington since
2004, and formerly with the American Red Cross and the Adventist
Development and Relief Agency.

UMCOR also will continue its work of many months with a coalition of
other humanitarian organizations to provide assistance to Sudanese
refugees fleeing from Darfur into the neighboring nation of Chad.

The Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries, of which UMCOR is a part, said he was pleased the
agency can now offer direct services. "Working out the details of this
new venture has been slow and complex.	The success of our efforts is
testimony to the diligence of UMCOR in all that it does in relief and
rehabilitation."

Day noted that the 2004 United Methodist General Conference, the
denomination's top legislative body, gave his agency a mandate to
provide assistance and work for peace in Sudan.

A major step toward peace in southern Sudan occurred in late January
with the signing of an accord between the government in Khartoum and the
Sudanese People's Liberation Movement. United Methodist mission leaders
welcomed the accord as a positive sign of eventual peace in all of
Sudan. The southern area includes several United Methodist
congregations.

Approved as a registered service provider inside Darfur in January,
UMCOR has found need for a humanitarian mission that will restore
farmland and provide seeds, tools and technical training in South
Darfur, where few agencies are working. Emergency supplies, such as
soap, buckets, cooking utensils and plastic sheeting, will also be
supplied to people in refugee camps.

Jim Cox, the agency's international operations director, pointed to the
acute need for services to children. He said that the 2004 harvest
provided even less than a short harvest the year before. World Food
Program figures indicate that 22 percent of children under age 5 are
malnourished.

Donations to the mission in Sudan can be earmarked for UMCOR Advance No.
84385, "Sudan Emergency," and dropped in church collection plates or
mailed directly to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY
10115. To donate using a credit card, contributors may call toll free,
(800) 554-8583.

# # #

*Beher is executive secretary for communications at the United Methodist
Committee on Relief.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org