Mounting concern over Humanitarian crisis in Darfur
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 8, 2004 (IPS) — Pressure on Sudan’s government to cease military activities in the western state of Darfur and open the region to relief shipments for hundreds of thousands of displaced people has grown sharply in recent days, with strong statements issued by both the White House and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.
On Wednesday (Apr. 7), Annan suggested that he would push for an armed intervention by international forces if humanitarian workers and human rights observers were not “given full access to the region, and to the victims, without further delay”.
“If that is denied, the international community must be prepared to take swift and appropriate action,” he said, adding that this would involve “a continuum of steps which may include military action”.
United States President George Bush also released a statement Wednesday demanding that the Sudanese government “immediately stop local militias from committing atrocities against the local population …and provide unrestricted access to humanitarian aid agencies”.
He accused Khartoum of complicity in human rights “atrocities” that have displaced about a million civilians over the past year – and said his administration would move toward reestablishing normal ties with Sudan only after humanitarian access in Darfur was assured.
The statements came amid growing concerns about the situation in Darfur where government-backed Arab militias – the Janjaweed, or “men on horseback” – and government forces have been accused of waging a relentless campaign against members of three ethnic groups, the Fur, Masaalit and Zaghawa.
In a report issued last week, the New York-based Human Rights Watch noted that the two main rebel groups in Darfur – the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) – draw their support from these non-Arab groups, which also make up the majority of the region’s settled population.
The two loosely allied rebel movements have launched attacks against government military installations to protest raids by the Janjaweed against their communities, as well as Khartoum’s neglect of the region.
Thousands are believed to have been killed in raids and bombings against civilians who, like their assailants, are also Muslim. Entire villages have been torched, crops burned and livestock abducted, according to independent human rights groups, relief agencies and the UN.
At present, over 800,000 people are displaced within Sudan, while about 110,000 have fled across the border into neighboring Chad.
The coincidence of the current crisis with this week’s tenth anniversary of the launching of the Rwandan genocide has spurred international concern.
Annan himself evoked the parallel in remarks Wednesday to commemorate the genocide, in which as many as 800,000 people, the vast majority members of the Tutsi ethnic group, were killed within a period of only three months. He said the reports of atrocities in Darfur left him with “a deep sense of foreboding”.
The comparison was also evoked in a statement issued by the Committee on Conscience of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Wednesday.
The group reiterated its “genocide warning” for Sudan, noting that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had warned that 100,000 civilians would be at risk over the next few months if the displaced were not permitted to return home, and provided with adequate relief supplies.
“USAID’s prediction that 100,000 civilians may soon die underscores the increasing threat of genocide in Sudan,” said Committee Chairman Thomas Bernstein. “If there is anything we can learn from the history of the Holocaust, and from the history of genocide since the Holocaust, it is that we cannot ignore widespread and systematic, government-sponsored attacks on civilians of specific racial and ethnic groups.”
Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, all states have an obligation to “undertake to prevent” genocide, presumably by military means if necessary.
While Annan alluded to that possibility, Bush – avoiding the use of the term “genocide” – did not. In answer to a question about whether Washington was considering military intervention as suggested by Annan, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli stressed that Washington’s “focus is on diplomatic efforts”.
For its part, Khartoum officially rejected Annan’s demands, although it is engaged in cease-fire talks this week with representatives from the SLA and JEM in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena. Representatives from the State Department and the UN are also taking part in those talks.
In its report, Human Rights Watch also stated that several thousand Fur, Zaghawa and Masaalit civilians have been killed to date, while the Janjaweed have “routinely raped women and girls, abducted children, and looted tens of thousands of head of cattle and other property”.
Water sources and other agricultural infrastructure have been destroyed. This poses a threat to the region’s food production, even in the event of peace.
While international concern is focused on Darfur, some regional specialists are warning that the Sudanese government is preparing a major military offensive against suspected rebel forces which have recently joined the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), in Eastern Equatoria state in the southern part of the country.
This follows a similar offensive in just the past few weeks in the nearby Shilluk Kingdom region, which reportedly displaced thousands of residents.
All of these actions, according to human rights activists, raise serious questions about Khartoum’s good faith in talks with southern rebels, which are still proceeding in Kenya.
The discussions are aimed at concluding a peace agreement between government and the SPLM/A that will end their 21-year war, in which some two million people are believed to have died.