Sudan’s UN envoy says NGO’s “will be unhappy” when Darfur crisis is over
April 22, 2008 (NEW YORK) — A senior Sudanese official accused non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) working in Darfur of benefiting from the crisis that erupted five years ago.
“For some groups [NGO’s] the saddest day would be when the conflict is over because they are benefitting from it” Abdel-Haleem said.
“They will be very unhappy when it is over; I can tell you very frankly” he added.
The Sudanese diplomat was responding to questions on a statement by a top UN official on the death toll in Darfur.
John Holmes the UN Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs told the UN Security Council (UNSC) that as many as 300,000 people died in the conflict. The official figures have not exceeded 200,000 through the conflict years.
Holmes said the new number he mentioned in his speech today is a “reasonable extrapolation” but acknowledged that “it is not a very scientific based figure”.
However the UN official said that the original figure of 200,000 must have increased and is now “considerably larger” from when the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted the study on Darfur mortality figures.
Abdel-Haleem slammed Holmes statements describing them as “not objective and unprofessional” and said that it is a “repetition of what Mr. Egeland [Holmes predecessor] used to say to the UNSC”.
The Sudanese ambassador stressed that total deaths figures in Darfur “do not exceed 10,000” according to his government’s official calculations. He further said that it does not include non-violent deaths “because in Darfur there are no epidemics or starvation”.
“The death of even a single Sudanese is something very regrettable and tragic” Abdel-Haleem said.
The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when an ethnic minority rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, which then was accused of enlisting the Janjaweed militia group to help crush the rebellion.
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in the conflict, which Washington calls genocide, a term European governments are reluctant to use.
(ST)