Sudan under growing international pressure over Darfur
BRUSSELS, June 16 (AFP) — The international community is stepping up pressure on the Sudanese government to open up the war-torn western region of Darfur to aid agencies and show more determination in resolving the 16-month-old conflict raging there.
The European Union, alarmed over a humanitarian crisis in the region and the scale of human rights abuses, will urge the Sudanese government to ensure access for aid, safety of civilians and aid workers and to disarm militias, according to draft conclusions for a summit starting Thursday.
European leaders also plan to call on Sudan to hammer out a political accord as soon as possible to resolve the conflict.
The draft is due to go before EU heads of government and state on Friday at their meeting in Brussels.
A rebellion broke out in Darfur in February 2003, and the Sudanese government and pro-Khartoum Arab militias known as Janjawids have been accused of killings and massive human rights abuses, which has left at least 10,000 dead and up to a million displaced.
On Monday, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur required immediate attention.
“And the world must insist that the Sudanese authorities neutralize and disarm the militia, who continue to terrorize the population. They must also allow humanitarian supplies,” he said.
The United Nations, United States and humanitarian agencies have been urging the Khartoum government for the past several weeks to allow humanitarian agencies unimpeded access to the war-ravaged region.
Non-governmental organizations in Khartoum say the pressure is paying off and that since May 24, bureaucratic and other forms of restrictions have been eased.
Meanwhile Khartoum and the two main rebel groups in Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), have been trading accusations of violating an April 8 ceasefire deal and obstructing the delivery of much-needed humanitarian supplies to the people of Darfur, who aid agencies say stand on the brink of starvation.
Despite a lull in military operations, violence against the civilian population continues, locals told UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) director Carol Bellamy during a two-day tour of camps for displaced persons in Darfur.
Meanwhile, a senior Chadian official accused Arab militias of recruiting in his country, which neighbours the Darfur region.
“There is a covert force seeking to transport the inter-Sudanese conflict (of Darfur) inside Chad,” Allami Ahmat told AFP. He is both diplomatic adviser to the Chadian president and spokesman for Chad’s mediation effort.
The head of the ceasefire commission met Chadian President Idriss Deby on Wednesday.
The ceasefire calls for the deployment of up to 120 observers in Darfur to be led by the African Union (AU).
The European Union has allocated 12 million euros (14.5 million dollars) to help fund the mission following an appeal from the AU.
The AU has already set up mission headquarters in al-Fashir, in the northern part of Darfur, but the actual mission of monitoring the ceasefire between rebels and the Khartoum government with its allied militia has yet to begin.
Meanwhile, following her trip to Darfur, UNICEF’s Bellamy said that a humanitarian disaster was looming in Darfur and it was a race against time to get aid there before the rainy season sets in.
In Geneva, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) appealed for 55.8 million dollars of extra funds to help an estimated 150,000 refugees forced to flee Darfur into Chad, a figure expected to reach 200,000 by the end of the year unless the conflict is resolved.
Sudanese authorities quoted by the local press Wednesday said the EU had agreed to release 60 million euros already earmarked, half to provide food and half to ensure water supplies, education and health services.
The official Al Anbaa daily also said that Annan would be visiting Sudan in the coming days to see for himself the humanitarian and security situation in Darfur.