Millions of lives imperiled in Africa - U.N. Humanitarian Chief Jan Egeland by Associated Press 2:20pm 21st Dec, 2005   December 19, 2005    Warning that the lives of millions of Africans are at stake, the U.N. humanitarian chief urged stepped-up international efforts Monday to tackle worsening conflicts in Sudan and Uganda and severe food shortages in Zimbabwe and southern Africa.    Jan Egeland appealed for an expanded security force to stop rapes, killings, burning and looting in Sudan"s Darfur region which is spilling across the border to Chad. He called for international efforts to stop the Lord"s Resistance Army from wreaking havoc in Uganda and southern Sudan, and he said Zimbabwe"s government must stop further evictions and allow aid to its people.    "More is currently at stake in terms of lives saved or lost in Africa than on any other continent," Egeland said in a briefing to the U.N. Security Council. "As humanitarian workers, we cannot accept that so many lives are lost every year on this continent to preventable diseases, neglect and senseless brutality."    The U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs said the international community must demonstrate its "humanity" by providing money for "a much more ambitious development and humanitarian agenda." He expressed hope that new African Union initiatives and additional resources pledged by the powerful Group of Eight major industrialized nations would result in major changes.    Egeland stressed that too many of the humanitarian crises in Africa result from "a total absence of peace and security."    "Humanitarian aid cannot be an alibi for unwillingness to address the root causes of conflict," he said. "The greatest contribution we can make to addressing humanitarian crises in Africa is determined, energetic and sustained efforts to bring an end to conflict and injustice that cause so much suffering in Africa."    Egeland warned that the largest humanitarian operation in the world, in Darfur, remains "under constant threat, and our operations can now be disrupted completely any day and anywhere in Darfur" because of continuing violence.    The Security Council must face "the terrible reality" that the killings, rapes, burning, looting and forced displacement of people have not stopped, that attacks are spilling into Chad, and that for the last three months "the situation has been deteriorating," he said.    The conflict began in February 2003 when two African rebel groups took up arms against the Sudanese government amid accusations of repression and unfair distribution of wealth. The United Nations estimates that 180,000 people have died, mainly through famine and disease, and several million more have either fled to Chad or been displaced inside Sudan.    While some 13,000 international and national relief workers have been providing relief to more than 3 million people in Darfur and Chad, Egeland said they have had less access in the past three months than at any time since April 2004.    "Our massive humanitarian operation will not be sustainable unless we finally see commensurate efforts in the political and security areas," he warned.    Egeland called for "an expanded and more effective security presence on the ground as soon as possible" to protect civilians, and he stressed that this beefed-up presence is needed regardless of the outcome of talks in Abuja, Nigeria on a political settlement of the Darfur conflict.    "It cannot be right that we have twice as many humanitarian workers in Darfur as international security personnel," he said. The African Union has 7,000 troops in Darfur and its continued presence is being assessed.    LRA threatens region    On a second crisis, Egeland said that while the number of combatants from the Lord"s Resistance Army may not have increased, "they have spread out over a larger area and now constitute a significant threat to regional security, with appalling consequences for several million people."    The LRA is made up of the remnants of a northern rebellion that began after Urgandan President Yoweri Museveni, a southerner, took power in 1986. They operate from bases in southern Sudan, which had backed the rebels but is now reconciled with Uganda. In September, some rebels fled to eastern Congo following pressure from Ugandan troops.    Egeland said rebel attacks have curtailed access to 1.7 million people in camps in northern Uganda and thousands more in southern Sudan, putting many lives at risk, and he denounced a new rebel tactic of targeting humanitarian workers.    The U.N. humanitarian chief said the governments of Uganda, Congo and Sudan "bear the primary responsibility to protect and assist their populations, as well as to pursue the LRA."    He urged the three governments to acknowledge how dangerous the situation is and called on the Security Council to strongly condemn the LRA attacks, demand an immediate halt to the violence, and consider appointing a panel of experts to explore the sources of funding and support for the rebels.    Bad times ahead for Zimbabwe, Mali    As for the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe and southern Africa, Egeland said more than 10 million people in the region need food and the situation could deteriorate next year, particularly in Zimbabwe and Malawi.    In Zimbabwe, he said, "the humanitarian situation has worsened significantly in 2005," exacerbated by the government"s massive forced eviction of slum dwellers. "The government must stop further evictions and be more flexible in allowing shelter and other programs for those affected," Egeland said. "It must ensure that beneficiaries are assisted solely on the basis of need."    He urged African governments to engage Zimbabwe, which not only needs food but investments to improve agriculture, job opportunities and basic services.
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