History will judge world response to Darfur: Annan

LONDON, July 1 (AFP) — UN chief Kofi Annan said Friday that history will probably judge that the international community had been slow to respond to the crisis in Darfur and had learned nothing from the genocide in Rwanda.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (L) speaks to Sudanese refugee women at the Zamzam camp in northern Darfur, July 1, 2004. (Reuters).

Asked by BBC television if history would judge harshly the world’s reaction to the violence in Darfur, western Sudan, Annan replied “quite likely that we were slow, hesitant, uncaring and that we have learnt nothing from Rwanda.”

In Rwanda, an estimated 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in 1994 as the world stood by.

Fighting has raged in Darfur since February 2003, when local groups launched a rebellion in the name of the region’s black African tribes against marginalization by Khartoum’s Arab-dominated government.

Since the war began, between 180,000 and 300,000 people are thought to have died, many of them from famine and disease, with 2.4 million displaced from their homes, while an additional 200,000 have fled into neighbouring Chad.

The violence has continued, despite the presence of some peacekeeping troops from the African Union.

In an interview for the BBC broadcast on the 10pm news, Annan appeared to accept that the response to events in Darfur could be seen as proof that the international community had not taken on board the lessons from the Rwandan genocide.

The complete interview with Annan will be broadcast on Sunday evening.