Doctors Without Borders Forced to Halt Work in Region of India

The international medical charity, Doctors Without Borders, said over the weekend that it has been forced to cease its work in a part of India that has been hit hard by attacks from Maoist rebels, after being accused by the local government of treating the rebels, Agence France Presse reports

Doctors Without Borders had been providing health services to thousands of people in government-run relief camps and in villages in Chhattisgarh state’s southern Dantewada district for the past year. The area is one of the hardest hit of India’s states where Maoist rebels, known as Naxalites, have invaded. Fourteen of India’s 29 states are struggling against a Maoist insurgency.

Dantewada officials became suspicious of the group’s work about three weeks ago, said Hans van de Weerd, who directs the medical charity’s operations in India.

“On Wednesday, the district official made allegations that the reason for that is that we are supporting Naxalites,” Mr. van de Weerd told the news service, adding that his group denies the allegations.

But officials of the government said they halted the work for other reasons, such as heavy rain and floods.