Sudan: Fighting between government forces and rebels groups threatens a humanitarian catastrophe by Jim Lobe, OneWorld US 5:53pm 2nd Mar, 2004   Wed Mar 3, OneWorld.net    WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 3 (OneWorld) -- As U.S. and French troops move to restore security in Haiti, aid groups are clamoring for some form of intervention in western Sudan, where a year of fighting between government forces and government-backed militias and two rebels groups threatens a humanitarian catastrophe.    Despite denials by the government of Sudan that fighting continues in Darfur province, UN and aid officials along the border between Chad and Sudan say that tens of thousands of refugees remain on the move, fleeing raids and attacks by Arab militias, called "Janjawid," or men on horseback, who apparently are backed by Khartoum.    "The violence is not over; it's continuing," Ruud Lubbers, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said during a Tuesday visit to a refugee camp in Chad. "This is not peace; this is atrocities," he added, noting that ongoing peace negotiations between Khartoum and southern rebels should be expanded to include Darfur.    His remarks came one week after the top Sudan expert at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) called Darfur "the major humanitarian crisis in the world today" and blamed the Khartoum government for promoting "ethnic cleansing" in the region.    "What feeds into the ethnic cleansing scenario is the fact that the Khartoum government does not seem to be interested in protecting the Darfur people against the raids," said USAID Assistant Administrator Roger Winter. "What is essentially happening is that people are being driven off their land by men on camels and horseback who ride into their villages shooting and chasing them into the bush."    According to the United Nations one million people are believed to be internally displaced within Darfur, with little or no access to aid. At least 100,000 others have made it across the border into Chad, where they are living in refugee camps.    They are fleeing what Amnesty International Tuesday called an "invisible, vicious internal armed conflict" between the Sudanese government and the Janjawid on the one hand and two insurgencies, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).    The SLA and the JEM took up arms in February 2003 to protest what they claimed was a lack of government protection of the settled, mainly African farming population in the region against attacks by predominantly Arab nomadic militias.    The government retaliated by giving free rein to the Janjawid, who intensified their raids of rural communities, killing hundreds of people, seizing their livestock, burning fields, razing entire villages, and ultimately forcing more than million people to flee their homes.    Civilians seeking refuge within Darfur or across the border into Chad have also been attacked, according to Amnesty. In a report released last month, the rights group found that the government and Janjawid militias bore primary responsibility for the attacks, which have included bombings by the Sudanese air force and killings, rapes, and abductions by the militias. Many of the villages that have been attacked have been burned to the ground and cattle stolen, fueling a growing humanitarian crisis made worse by the government's refusal to provide unconditional access to the region by relief groups.    Last month, USAID administrator Andrew Natsios declared that Washington was prepared to cooperate in humanitarian cross-border operations if sufficient aid could not be provided through Sudan. Norway, which is also involved in peace negotiations between the government and the South, also offered to participate in cross-border operations.    Washington also pushed for a humanitarian cease-fire between all the parties. In his remarks last week, Winter said he had spoken personally to five of the key rebel leaders to assess their willingness to attend a peace conference aimed at achieving such a case fire. "They all said yes," he said. "We have asked the government over the last two weeks if they would participate in such an event. As of now, we have no affirmative answer..."    "Despite the comments of President (Omar Hassan) Bashir and the government generally (that hostilities have ceased and humanitarian operations will be permitted), the war is still raging there," he stressed.    Meanwhile, western relief groups are reporting a steadily worsening situation. In February Doctors Without Borders(Medecins Sans Frontieres) reported "catastrophic mortality rates" in the region and "newly displaced people living in extremely precarious conditions." Last week it reported a "marked increase in the degree of malnutrition in just the past two months" and insisted that a massive aid effort should be undertaken urgently.    The UN's News Center also said last week that recently displaced people in Darfur reported that aid given to them by UN agencies and private relief groups had been seized by the Janjawid, and that the residents of one village had asked UN staff not to distribute aid to them lest they become a target for attack.    The BBC reported this week on a group of 25,000 refugees that arrived in Chad in just the last two weeks. They reported that both Arab militias and government forces had driven them from their homes, contradicting the government's insistence that fighting had ended.    7 March , 2004    "Sudanese yearn for peace" ( ABC News :Correspondents Report - Reporter: Sally Sara)    HAMISH ROBERTSON: It's Africa's longest-running civil war. Sudan has been the battlefield for a brutal conflict that's claimed more than 1.5 million lives. But peace talks are now underway between the Government and the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Army.    Community leaders and aid groups are calling on the negotiators to put an end to months of delays, and reach an agreement as soon as possible.    Our Africa Correspondent Sally Sara has just been to Southern Sudan, from where she filed this report.    SALLY SARA: These are the first sounds of joy and relief. The people of Labone in Southern Sudan are hoping that peace is on its way. Hundreds have come together to sing and dance.    Different tribal groups are performing for a cultural day. Among them is Steven Achuil. He's a veteran of Sudan's civil war. He lost his leg during the fighting. Steven now dances using his crutches. He says the sacrifice of war was worth it.    Steven Achuil is just one of the millions who have suffered during Sudan's civil war. The conflict between Government forces from the north, and the Sudanese People's Liberation Army in the south has left more than 1.5 million people dead. Many have died away from the battlefield from hunger and disease. It's been 20 years of conflict.    Ding Akoi is 69-years-old. He lost his wife and two children to illness. Now he's left to care for his four-year-old daughter who's also suffering from malnutrition. She holds his hand. They sit together at a feeding centre run by Catholic Relief Services. Mr Akoi says it's time for peace in Sudan.    Labone is home to 35,000 people in Southern Sudan, just near the border with Uganda. The families here are displaced. They've been unable to return to their villages for 10 years because of the war.    Local pastor, John Alith Alier, says people want to go home. He says after a decade of living in fear, many people have suffered enormous emotional stress. Insecurity affects almost every aspect of daily life. Labone is surrounded by mountains. Outside the valley, rebels from neighbouring Uganda terrorise civilians. The rebels are allies of the Sudanese Government, and it's not safe for people to leave. They've been stuck in this valley for a decade. They can't live or farm very far from the centre of the camp because of fears of attack.    Makour Bialonee is an agricultural extension manager. He says it's difficult for people to cultivate.    MAKOUR BIALONE: People become now, uncertain that the peace will come, and they will move. But the peace talk is going to take almost three years now.    SALLY SARA: Life is uncertain here. If peace comes the people will try to go home. A new secondary school has been built in Lebone. It's one of the few permanent structures. Principal, Benyomin Joseph Barao, says people want an end to the war.    BENYOMIN JOSEPH BARAO: They were saying that the future of Southern Sudan actually, if you regard to the beginning of all other states, you realise that all states have started like Southern Sudan. They started from nowhere and they're actually somewhere now.    SALLY SARA: The United States is urging the Government and the SPLA to speed up the peace talks. The US and millions of people in Sudan are hoping that the war will finally be over.
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