UN chief visits Sudan’s Darfur amid ongoing attacks
By Haider Rizvi
August 31, 2007 (UNITED NATIONS) — Hopes for restoration of peace in the Sudanese region of Darfur appear to remain as distant as ever, although international efforts to resolve the four-year-long bloody conflict have recently intensified and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is now getting personally involved.
But as Ban prepares to embark on his first-ever trip to Sudan next week from Sep. 3-6, the official statements coming from Khartoum indicate that the mood there remains defiant and there are few indications of enthusiasm to cooperate with the international community.
On Tuesday, noting that violence in the Darfur region was on the rise, Ban said he was “deeply concerned” that early this month several hundred people had been killed in violent incidents, including an attack on a police station and air strikes on villages in south Darfur.
In response, the regime quickly sent a rebuke to Ban, saying that his statement was based on “fabricated news stories.” The Sudanese government categorically denied reports about continued military operations in Darfur.
“These accusations are false and founded on made-up information from organisations and agencies with a political agenda,” foreign ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadek told reporters. “The government hasn’t had any military activities recently and the Sudanese army has no activities in Darfur.”
Initially, the Sudanese government refused to accept the U.N. Security Council decision to deploy additional peacekeepers in the troubled region, but under international pressure eventually agreed to a 26,000-strong United Nations-African Union hybrid force in Darfur, most of which will be shaped by troops drawn from African nations.
A spokesman for Ban reiterated the U.N. position that violence was escalating and military operations were still going on in Darfur.
“These are established facts,” said Yves Sorokobi. “We stand by our information.”
Last week, the London-based human rights group Amnesty International released new photographs illustrating the Sudanese government’s continued deployment of military equipment in Darfur despite the U.N. arms embargo and peace agreements.
“An embargo is only effective if it there are repercussions for defiance,” said Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA’s executive director. “The Security Council must strongly enforce this embargo immediately.
The photographs, sent to Amnesty International and the International Peace Information Service in Antwerp by eyewitnesses in Darfur, reinforce evidence provided in Amnesty’s May 2007 report “Sudan: Arms continuing to fuel serious human rights violations in Darfur.”
In Darfur, more than 200,000 people have been killed at least two million others displaced since 2003 when the armed conflict erupted between rebel groups from indigenous African tribes and Khartoum-backed Janjaweed militias.
Reports from the region suggest that in addition to civilians, many aid workers remain vulnerable to violent attacks by militias, which have continued since last September, when the Security Council first voted to send 20,000 U.N. troops to the region.
On Monday, Ban said he planned his trip to Sudan because he wanted to “see for myself the very difficult conditions” under which the proposed hybrid U.N.-African peacekeeping force will operate in Darfur.
He said the objective of his trip was “to underscore the peace agreement and to make progress in several areas related to Darfur — hybrid force, the political process, humanitarian access and development of water sources.”
Amid renewed calls for rapid deployment of troops, the civil society groups involved in humanitarian and peace efforts in Darfur welcomed Ban’s decision to visit Sudan, although many of them seem unsure if the talks with the Omar al-Bashir government would produce positive results.
“It’s critical to put pressure on the government,” Marie Clark Brill of Africa Action, a Washington-based political pressure group that lobbies with the U.S. Congress on issues related to development in Africa, told IPS. “It’s now time to put forward financial and logistical resources in place.”
Like many other groups, Africa Action is demanding immediate deployment of troops in Darfur. “The peacekeeping operation is long overdue,” she said, amid doubts about Sudan’s promises to cooperate with the world community.
Scott Paul of Citizens for Global Solutions, another independent but influential policy think tank in Washington, offered similar views on Ban’s trip to Khartoum.
“We all know that the agreements reached thus far are as fragile as they are promising,” he told IPS. “However, keeping the spotlight on Darfur is the best way to hold the government of Sudan to the promises that it has made.”
In the United States, many groups involved in peace and humanitarian efforts in Darfur believe that, aside from collective efforts at the U.N. level, China alone can play a critical in ending the carnage in Darfur, but the giant Asian nation has so far failed to do enough.
China is thought to purchase as much as 70 percent of Sudan’s oil and has at least 3 billion dollars invested in the Sudanese energy sector. It has exported at least 24 million dollars worth of arms and ammunition to Sudan, as well as nearly 57 million dollars in parts and aircraft equipment.
This year and before, time and again, the United States tried to threaten Sudan with economic sanctions, but both China and Russia opposed such measures at the U.N. Security Council, where both countries enjoy veto powers.
However, earlier this month, China and Russia went along with the United States and other countries’ proposal to send a 26,000-strong U.N. force to Darfur.
Many observers believe China’s acquiescence was due, at least in part, to the activist pressure brought to bear on the nation as it attempts to purify its image ahead of next year’s Olympic Games.
U.N. officials say the troop deployment could still take several months to implement. Meanwhile, as Darfurians await the troops’ arrival, vast numbers of villagers — as well as humanitarian aid workers — are likely to face further armed attacks by militias.
(IPS)