ICRC sees “gross violations” by all sides in Darfur

Feb 23, 2007 (GENEVA) — The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned on Friday that growing insecurity jeopardised its aid operations in Sudan’s Darfur region, where it is often alone in addressing massive needs.

Jakob Kellenberger.

Jakob Kellenberger, speaking after a five-day trip to Sudan which included stops in Darfur, also said all sides of the conflict were committing human rights violations against civilians.

“It is a context of very gross violations of international humanitarian law, with a main responsibility on the government side, but not only on the government side. There have also been gross violations on the side of armed groups,” he said.

Kellenberger said he stressed to all parties of the four-year-old conflict that the agency needed a safe environment to continue its life-saving work.

“What is widening is the gap between needs and the possibility of access. It is a very serious concern,” he told a news conference in Geneva.

“I do expect parties to the conflict to really respect the security of our staff. … Our main problem is banditry and criminality in the region,” he added.

The ICRC deploys 160 expatriates and 1,800 Sudanese staff in Sudan’s vast west, where security incidents affecting its work “increased greatly” in 2006, Kellenberger said. It is the only aid agency with foreign staff on the ground in Darfur.

A Sudanese working for the ICRC was abducted and murdered by an armed group near the Jebel Marra mountains in north Darfur last August and two others were shot recently in Kutum, he said.

Kellenberger said the greatest insecurity and therefore its greatest access problems were in Kutum, Jebel Marra, Nyala, Gereida and to the far west along the border.

“CLEAR RESPONSIBILITIES”

Experts say around 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million people displaced since rebels took up arms against the Sudanese government in 2003, charging it with neglect. The government countered with local militias and bombing runs.

Kellenberger, a former senior Swiss diplomat, declined to comment on the need for U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur, but said action was needed to improve the security environment.

Both government and rebel authorities had “clear responsibilities” to uphold international humanitarian law and protect civilians and aid workers, he said.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is due to name the first suspects accused of committing war crimes in Darfur next Tuesday, with investigators citing evidence of rape, torture, murder and sexual violence in the region.

Kellenberger said ICRC officials would not testify to the international court on atrocities in Darfur, in keeping with its neutral role in armed conflicts.

The ICRC plans to seek an additional $30 million from donors after taking over a camp of 120,000 displaced people near Gereida, he said. This followed the evacuation of other agencies last December after an attack on a house used by ICRC staff.

This would bring the ICRC’s budget this year for Sudan, its largest humanitarian operation worldwide, to $90 million.

(Reuters)