Sudan: Deteriorating situation in Darfur leaves UN ‘extraordinarily concerned’ by Reuters / AFP / IRIN News 11:50am 3rd Aug, 2006   18 August 2006    Deteriorating situation in Darfur leaves UN ‘extraordinarily concerned’.    Warning that “something very ugly is brewing” in Darfur, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown today urged the international community to pay close attention to the crisis in the impoverished and strife-torn region of western Sudan.    “We are extraordinarily concerned,” Mr. Malloch Brown told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, calling attention to the worsening humanitarian and security situation in the remote region in recent months and “the absence of a clear political path to the deployment of a UN force.”    A draft resolution circulating among Security Council members outlines the size and scope of a possible UN peacekeeping operation, which would replace the current mission of the African Union (AU). But so far the Sudanese Government has said it is opposed to having blue helmets in Darfur.    In a closed-door briefing yesterday, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi told the Council that Khartoum is building up its armed forces in Darfur, an apparent sign that it is determined to pursue a major military offensive there soon.    The period since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) in early May has been marked not only by fierce fighting, but also by an unprecedented number of attacks on humanitarian workers – in July alone there were 36 reported incidents that led to nine deaths.    Mr. Annabi said some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have indicated they may be forced to withdraw entirely from North Darfur, one of three states which comprise the region, because of the dangers to their staff members. Last week Secretary-General Kofi Annan wrote to the Council to express his alarm about the situation, pointing out it has become much harder for those aid workers who remain to direct humanitarian assistance to those in need. As many as 1.6 million people are currently inaccessible, Mr. Annan said in his letter. Today, Mr. Malloch Brown urged the reporters to not forget about Darfur, despite the importance of other crises in the world.    He acknowledged that it is “hard to keep two stories in the air at once” but stressed that “it is very, very important that we all pay lots of attention to Darfur.” Scores of thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million others have been displaced since conflict erupted in 2003 between rebels, Government forces and allied militia groups in Darfur, a region roughly the size of France.    August 15, 2006    UN urged to impose sanctions on Sudan"s president. (Reuters)    The U.N. Security Council should impose sanctions on Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and other top officials for blocking a U.N. bid for peace in the Darfur region, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.    In a letter to the council, the New York-based group also called for an expansion of an arms embargo to cover all of Sudan, not just Darfur, and authorization of more than 20,000 U.N. troops, which the Khartoum government has not allowed into Darfur.    "Civilians in Darfur are in urgent need of protection and the Sudanese government admits it can"t save them from the violence," Human Rights Watch Africa Director Peter Takirambudde said in a separate statement.    "The Council should impose personal, targeted sanctions on top Sudanese officials responsible for preventing U.N. troops from being sent to Darfur," he said. A Human Rights Watch spokeswoman said this included al-Bashir.    The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution in 2005 calling for a freeze on assets overseas and a travel ban on individuals who defy peace efforts, violate rights or conduct military flights over Darfur.    But it has only been used once -- in April -- to impose sanctions a Sudanese air force commander, a pro-government militia leader and two rebel commanders.    A longer list of people have been recommended for U.N. sanctions by Britain and other nations, but other council members including the United States have opposed sanctions on other high-ranking Sudanese officials.    U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed a peacekeeping force of up to 24,000 troops and international police officers for Darfur, which suffered its bloodiest month in July since the conflict began.    The Darfur conflict erupted in 2003 when mostly non-Arab tribes took up arms over land and water resources, accusing the Arab-dominated government of neglect.    In turn, the government is accused of arming Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, who ran a campaign of murder, rape, arson and plunder that drove more than 2 million villagers into squalid camps in Darfur and neighboring Chad.    Infighting among rebel groups over the past month has also resulted in indiscriminate killings, rape, looting and the displacement of some 8,000 civilians, U.N. officials said in July.    Nairobi, 3 Aug 2006    SUDAN: Deaths of aid workers threaten Darfur operations (IRIN)    Escalating violence in the volatile Darfur region has left more aid workers dead over the past two weeks than during all the previous years of conflict, jeopardising one of the world’s largest aid operations, a United Nations official said on Thursday.    "During the second half of July, we lost more aid workers than over the previous two years," said Mike McDonagh, senior humanitarian affairs officer at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Khartoum.    According to McDonagh, the main reason for the violence against humanitarian workers was the tensions and rumours among the local population, many of whom are living in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs).    "We are now in the third - and for some the fourth - rainy season and the IDPs are still living in camps," McDonagh said. "There is enormous frustration and a lack of hope among many of them, especially the Fur [ethnic community]."    Oxfam, the international NGO, announced this week that a Sudanese staff member had been killed on Friday in West Darfur, while another international NGO, Tearfund, confirmed that a Sudanese driver for its relief team working in the same state had been killed on Thursday.    On 20 July, three Sudanese governmental workers of the water and sanitation department (WES) were beaten to death by a mob in an IDP camp just outside Zalingei. The previous day, a driver working for a local NGO and partner of the faith-based humanitarian operation of ACT-Caritas was killed in South Darfur.    Earlier, a driver working for an international NGO was killed in El Geneina by bandits; an aid worker from the NGO Relief International was shot dead by an armed gang in North Darfur and a watchman for Care International was killed in Kalma IDP camp in South Darfur.    Another reason for the recent insecurity has been the fragmentation of various rebel groups following the signing of the 5 May Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) - between the Sudanese government and the largest of the three main rebel factions, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) under the command of Minni Minnawi - and escalating fighting between the signatories and the non-signatories of the DPA.    Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nur, the leader of another faction of the SLM/A with a predominantly Fur following, and Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), refused to sign the DPA, claiming it was unacceptable as it did not fulfil their key demands.    "The escalating fighting is making humanitarian access very difficult and has greatly reduced planting [by the local communities], especially in North Darfur [State]," McDonagh said.    Turid Laegreid, head of the OCHA sub-office for North Darfur, warned on Tuesday that "access to the local population in North Darfur is at an all-time low".    The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), announced on Thursday that it had suspended many of its medical activities - "leaving thousands of patients untreated everyday" - after having been attacked in several locations in Darfur in the past weeks.    "Most fighting is taking place in North Darfur and more NGO cars have been hijacked since the signing of the DPA [in May 2006] than over the previous years," McDonagh added. "The splintering of rebel groups has resulted in a myriad new groups that are completely undisciplined and need cars to get started - NGOs are an easy target."    According to OCHA, violent clashes between Sudanese government forces, allied militias and rebel groups have displaced 25,000 civilians in North Darfur State over the past three weeks alone.    Amnesty International reported on Monday that between 4 and 8 July, some 72 people were killed, 103 injured and 39 women raped in targeted attacks against civilians in the Korma region, 70 km northwest of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. The attackers were members of the Minni Minnawi faction, reportedly supported by the Sudan armed forces and government-aligned militia of the Janjawid.    Other sources in the region said some of the displaced were being prevented from reaching the relative safety of the IDP camps. "Previously, the Janjawid wouldn’t really care what happened after they had pillaged a village - the fleeing population would cause more displacement and facilitate their scorched-earth campaign," he said. "Minnawi wants to hide his crimes, however, and is trying to prevent people from reaching the towns - leaving them enormously vulnerable."    The conflict, which started in 2003, has displaced 2 million people in Darfur. Approximately 210,000 Sudanese refugees have fled Darfur into neighbouring Chad. About 14,000 aid workers are providing humanitarian assistance to the population.    August 2, 2006.    UN-led force for Darfur would need up to 18,600 Troops. (AFP)    Annan seeks up to 18,600 troops for Darfur force.    A UN-led force for Darfur would need up to 18,600 troops and intense international pressure has to be put on Sudan to accept the intervention, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan says.    Mr Annan said in a report to the UN Security Council the new force should take over from the current African Union peacekeepers as soon as possible, adding more troops from mainly African and Asian countries.    The Sudanese Government strongly opposes UN involvement but the UN chief says "the international community"s message should make clear that the costs of rejecting the transition could be serious and lasting".    Mr Annan proposed three alternatives to replace the current 7,000 strong African Union force in the western Sudanese region, where up to 300,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced since civil war erupted in 2003.    Sudan"s President Omar al-Beshir warned Friday that Darfur would become a "graveyard" for United Nations forces if they were deployed in the western region.    Referring to Khartoum"s opposition, Mr Annan stressed that the UN force was not intended to occupy the country.    "I appeal to the Sudanese authorities to ensure that the aims and the ideals of the United Nations are neither contorted nor misrepresented to suit political ends," he said.
	Next (more recent) news item
	Next (older) news item