GENEVA, 29 September 2005 — Violence is rising sharply again in Sudan’s Darfur and could force the United Nations to halt aid to over two million desperate people, the UN’s humanitarian chief warned yesterday. All parties to the Darfur conflict — the Khartoum government, rebels, Arab militias — were at fault, said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland.
He also criticized the international community for easing pressure for an end to the violence. “In the last few days we have seen colleagues being harassed, attacked, robbed or abducted every day. It cannot continue,” Egeland told journalists. “If it (the violence) continues to escalate, we may not be able to sustain our operations for 2.5 million people requiring life-saving assistance,” he said, adding: “In Darfur, it (aid distribution) could all end tomorrow. It is as serious as that.”
Rebels took up arms over what they saw as Khartoum’s preferential treatment of Arab tribes in Darfur and neglect of non-Arabs. They accuse the government of backing militias that have driven non-Arabs from their villages. Tens of thousands have been killed and more than two million people driven from their homes into refugee camps, mostly inside Darfur, the western Sudan region the size of France.
Little progress has been made in peace talks in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, being brokered by the African Union. Although there were now more than 5,000 African Union troops in Darfur, this was less than a third of the number needed to monitor a supposed cease-fire, Egeland said. “Civilians are being killed and raped every day across Darfur with impunity. Truck drivers are refusing to deliver food,” he said.
Renewed fighting is undermining a cease-fire between government and rebel movements which was agreed in April 2004 and which had largely held despite sporadic attacks. “If it continues to be so dangerous to do humanitarian work, we may not be able to sustain our operations for 2.5 million people,” Egeland said. “It could end tomorrow. It’s as serious as that.” “We want to stay as long as we can. As we speak we have had to suspend action in many areas. Tens of thousands of people will not get any assistance because it’s too dangerous and it could grow exponentially.”
Since rebels launched an uprising in western Sudan in February 2003 more than 300,000 civilians have been killed and over two million driven from their homes, according to UN relief agencies. The Darfur conflict pits two rebel groups, the Sudanese Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality movement, against Sudanese forces and the Janjaweed, a government-backed militia which has been accused of carrying out unprovoked attacks on civilians.
Egeland said the international community should ponder past failures, notably during the break up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, when Muslims were massacred by Serb forces in areas purportedly protected by the UN and aid workers’ operations were hampered by violence. “Is it a repeat of the safe areas of Bosnia all over again? We keep people alive, we give them food, we give them medicine but we don’t protect them and our own staff,” he said.
“So something has to happen. We need to have the same kind of pressure on the parties as we had (in 2004), when world leaders really put their thumb on the government of Khartoum and the guerrilla groups. I don’t think they feel the same kind of pressure.”
Last year, the UN Security Council threatened sanctions against the Sudanese government unless it disarmed the Janjaweed, and also called on the rebels to stop fighting.
