DFID does not make its own estimates but relies on those provided by the UN. The UN uses the number of people in need of emergency aid as its criterion for defining those who are affected by conflict. This figure currently stands at 4.2 million, including 2.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). There are some 500,000 people across Darfur who are cut off from all humanitarian assistance and protection services. For many of the others, access to aid is only sporadic and frequently interrupted by insecurity and attacks on humanitarian staff.
DFID condemns the continuing violence targeting civilians and humanitarian workers in Darfur and has called on all sides to cease the violence immediately; revise the ceasefire, engage constructively in the renewed political process and support the rapid deployment of the AU/UN peacekeeping force for Darfur.