Oxfam Quits Darfur's Largest Camp

"Despite our repeated requests, none of the perpetrators have been held to account, none of the assets stolen in the attack have been returned, and we have not received credible assurances that similar attacks would not take place if we did return," Reuters quoted Caroline Nursey, Oxfam's Sudan program manager, as saying.

In a coordinated attack on three aid agency bases in Gereida in December, an aid worker was raped, an Oxfam staff member badly beaten and others subjected to mock executions.

Since then most operations have remained suspended in the area controlled by the former rebel faction of Minni Arcua Minnawi, the only leader to sign a May 2006 peace deal with the Khartoum government.

Oxfam provided water and sanitation, healthcare and livelihood education to 130,000 Darfuris encamped around Gereida town.

The International Committee for the Red Cross will take over the provision of water.

"As usual in Darfur, the people who will suffer most are the civilians who have already been attacked, forced from their homes and had their lives thrown into turmoil. For the last six months they have not had the level of assistance that they need," said Nursey.

The conflict has driven some 2.5 million from their homes, according to UN estimates.

Rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing central government of marginalizing the remote west.

The UN accuses Khartoum of mobilizing militias known as the Janjaweed to quell the revolt. Both rebels and the Janjaweed militants stand accused of a campaign of rape, killing and looting.

Air Bridge

Meanwhile, France will on Sunday open an air-bridge to ferry in humanitarian aid to victims of the Darfur crisis living in camps in eastern Chad.

"At the request of the president, we will put into place an air-bridge between Abeche and Goz Beida in the east of Chad. The start of operations is due Sunday," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted a Defense Ministry spokesman as saying.

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