Troops, rebels fight in Darfur
Jan 26, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Suadn’s troops and Darfur rebels battled Thursday in a resurgence of violence in Sudan’s Darfur region that has forced the evacuation of more than 100 aid workers, the U.N. said, as pressure built for stronger U.N. sanctions against the government.
African peacekeepers came under fire and a U.N. helicopter crash killed a Sudanese humanitarian worker during the evacuations Wednesday, prompted by heavy fighting that erupted two days earlier when rebels attacked the government garrison town of Golo.
In a report titled “Darfur: The Killing Continues,” U.K. legislators on Thursday accused Sudan’s government of blocking delivery of essential military equipment to undermanned and ill-equipped African peacekeepers whom, they said, are unable to defend Darfurians properly.
“The overriding priority for the international community must be to end the bloodshed,” the legislators said in the report.
The legislators urged the U.N. to impose “credible sanctions” on Sudan and give a U.N. mandate to the 7,000 African Union troops in Darfur.
The report, by the parliamentary Select Committee on International Development, came a day after Prime Minister Tony Blair said “the international community is failing people in Darfur.”
An estimated 180,000 people have died, mainly of hunger and disease, and some 2 million have been displaced since rebels from Darfur’s ethnic African population revolted three years ago, accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of discrimination and decades of neglect.
The government is widely alleged to have unleashed Arab militias, called Janjaweed, who carried out sweeping atrocities against ethnic African villagers. President Omar el-Bashir denies his government supports the Janjaweed.
On a visit to Khartoum, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, said she believed the U.N. Security Council was developing a list to impose sanctions individuals who “are allowing the conflict to continue.” The list will include government officials, rebels and others in neighboring countries.
“Chad, Eritrea, Libya all are countries that clearly have relationships with the rebels,” Frazer said in an interview Wednesday night.
The top U.N. official in Sudan, Jan Pronk, called Wednesday for the Security Council to publish a delayed report that identifies countries which have violated U.N. arms sanctions.
“It is highly necessary that that report be made public … to make it possible for the Security Council to sanction and help stop arms deliveries by other countries to parties in Sudan,” Pronk told reporters.
Pronk said African peacekeepers were shot at Wednesday as they tried to evacuate aid workers caught in crossfire in Golo.
(ST/AP)