New York, August 14 (Saba) - The United Nations humanitarian chief has called for immediate access to a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sudan’s Darfur region that has been closed off to aid workers for nearly two weeks, voicing concern about the needs of the 82,000 people residing there, according to Qatar News Agency (QNA).

"I am extremely concerned about the welfare of the IDPs at Kalma camp, to whom we have not been able to deliver relief for 13 days," said the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes.

A UNAMID team that visited Kalma on Tuesday reported that large parts of the camp appeared deserted, the inhabitants having left for either the CPC or one of the surrounding villages.

UN humanitarian agencies and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have aid programmes in Kalma are still being prevented from entering the camp by local authorities on the ground, despite recent reassurances that such restrictions had not been imposed, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a news release.

"We need immediate access so we can respond to the needs and conditions of those remaining there. We also need to find out how many people have left, and where they have gone, in order to provide relief to them too," said Holmes, adding that many thousands of IDPs from Kalma remain unaccounted for.

UN agencies and NGOs are prepared to resume humanitarian operations immediately to provide the IDPs with the necessary food, water and sanitation, health, nutritional support, shelter and non-food items.

Saba