Annan concerned by Darfur humanitarian crisis

Dec 8, 2005 (UNITED NATIONS) — UN chief Kofi Annan on Thursday expressed renewed concern about the worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region and called for serious efforts by the Khartoum government and rebels to reach a peace deal by year’s end.

“The secretary general is gravely concerned by the worsening situation in Darfur,” his spokesman said, pointing to UN reports of banditry, looting, inter-tribal fighting, attacks on civilians that are forcing thousands more people to leave their homes in addition to the two million already displaced.

Annan again urged the Khartoum government and Darfur rebels “to reach a political settlement in the Abuja peace talks (in Nigeria) before the end of the year”.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Annan also “urged the Security Council and the donor community to give close attention to the situation in Darfur, and to do everything possible to assist and strengthen the African Union Mission deployed on the ground”.

Sudanese rival parties holding a seventh round of talks in Abuja, Nigeria were trying to settle a dispute over a power-sharing deal to end the conflict.

Previous negotiations were undermined by regular ceasefire violations, and the United Nations has warned the Darfur region is falling into chaos, with murder, robbery and rape on the increase.

War broke out in February 2003 when the rebels began fighting what they call political and economic marginalisation of the region’s black African tribes by the Arab-led regime in Khartoum.

The African Union has deployed a small peacekeeping force to monitor a shaky ceasefire, but a series of peace conferences over the past year has made little progress toward a settlement.

(AFP/ST)