Darfur deputies demand Khartoum’s intervention to stop unrest
KHARTOUM, Oct 24 (AFP) — MPs from Sudan’s western region of Darfur vowed Friday to keep boycotting the National Assembly until Khartoum guarantees the restoration of security and relief for those displaced by massive unrest.
“We have vowed not to return to the National Assembly unless we get assurances from the central authorities to restore security and deliver humanitarian aid to the people who are dying of hunger,” said Khalid Bilal, leader of the 65 deputies from Darfur.
Bilal said such a guarantee could only come from President Omar al-Beshir, who the MPs are due to meet Saturday to present their demands.
“Darfur is presently experiencing very critical circumstances and all three of its states are in turmoil,” Bilal told AFP.
The MPs walked out of parliament on Wednesday after the legislative body refused to debate the worsening situation in Darfur.
The deputies want weapons rounded up from non-official forces and rebel militias, relief aid to be delivered to the needy and the development of social security programs.
The militias, originally formed and armed by the government to help fight rebels in the region, are guilty of “robbery, looting and killing” and are out of control, Bilal said.
In his own constituency of Azoum Daresah, about 100 people were killed, 150 injured and more than 25,000 forced to flee their homes when 4,000 armed men torched 28 villages last week, he said.
The number of displaced people is now higher than the UN estimate of 400, 000, he added.
A trilateral committee of the Sudanese and Chadian governments and the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) overseeing the Abeche agreement to collect arms from civilians will meet in Al-Fashir, North Darfur on Saturday to discuss the progress of implementation of the accord, state radio said.
The conflict between the SLA and government troops in Darfur, a semi-desert region bordering Chad, has left some 3,000 dead so far this year, according to UN estimates.
The rebels complain that the central government has neglected the economic needs of the region, which is home to several indigenous minorities.