Telecoms Charity Flies Out to Darfur

Telecoms Sans Frontieres (TSF) has deployed a crew of specialists in emergency telecommunications to Darfur in Sudan to undertake an assessment mission for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The team which took off from TSF?s headquarters in France landed in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan yesterday afternoon.

This mission should take approximately two weeks and will consist in evaluating the telecommunications infrastructures in the cities of Nyala, El Genina and El Fasher, situated in Darfur near the border with Chad. Depending on the results of this assessment, TSF could install one or several communication centres for the United Nations and the NGOs working in the region.

According to international experts, the conflict in Darfur killed over 200,000 people and displaced more than 2 million sheltered in temporary camps on both sides of the border separating Chad with Sudan.

TSF already deployed to support the refugees of Darfur between July and September 2004 and installed a communication centre for aid agencies in Abeche, a major hub for humanitarian coordination in Eastern Chad. TSF also implemented humanitarian calling operations in camps along the Sudanese border to enable refugees to contact their loved ones to give news and request personalized assistance.

This mission is funded by the Vodafone Group Foundation, the United Nations Foundation, Inmarsat, France Telecom, Eutelsat, Vizada, AT&T, Cable & Wireless and the Region of Aquitaine.

Posted to the site on 22nd August 2007