International community steps up pressure over Darfur
By Hassen Zenati
CAIRO, June 25 (AFP) — International heavyweights are increasing pressure on Sudan to resolve the Darfur crisis, as Khartoum accuses “foreigners” of seeking a new pretext to interfere in its affairs.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell is to arrive in Darfur on Tuesday, bringing with him 95 million dollars in emergency humanitarian assistance, which was voted by the US Senate on Thursday.
United Nations Secretary Kofi Annan will be close behind, with a trip to Khartoum planned for June 30.
They follow Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Margherita Boniver, her French counterpart Renaud Muselier, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey and the chief executive of the UN Children’s Fund, Carol Bellamy.
The diplomatic missions have gained urgency with the arrival of the rainy season, which will hinder aid to the region by making roads impassable.
Khartoum is under strong pressure to rein in the pro-government Arab militias accused of conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign in Darfur that some say constitutes genocide.
But while Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir pledged last weekend to do so, he later accused “foreigners” of wanting to use Darfur as a way to intervene in Sudanese affairs, just as peace is imminent between his government and southern rebels.
“Foreign circles, conscious that a new phase has begun concerning the problem of south (Sudan) in a healthy way, are trying to find a substitute gate in Darfur to intervene in Sudanese affairs,” Beshir told the Egyptian daily Al-Gumhuriya in an interview carried on Thursday.
Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army were due to start a crucial final round of talks Friday to clinch a definitive end to the 21-year civil war in southern Sudan, which has claimed the lives of at least 1.5 million people and displaced four million others.
But the talks were postponed for two days at the request of both sides to give more time for consultation, chief mediator Lazaro Sumbeiywo said on Thursday.
Fighting broke out in Darfur in February 2003 when black African rebel groups — complaining that their region was marginalised and local people poorly protected — rose up against the Khartoum government.
The government’s response was to give an Arab militia, the Janjawid, a free rein in cracking down on the rebels.
Beshir defended the Janjawid, saying the “problem in Darfur was never an ethnic one and the proof is that there are confrontations between Arab tribes”.
He also denied accusations by humanitarian groups that his government was blocking aid from reaching Darfur.
“The government has never put a single obstacle on the path of the humanitarian organisations,” Beshir said.
A UN human rights report released last month accused the Sudanese government of committing massive human rights violations in Darfur.
At least 10,000 people have been killed in the western region, although many believe the toll is grossly underestimated.
Another one million have been displaced. At least 120,000 refugees have poured into neighbouring Chad from ravaged Darfur.
The UN says refugees are living in dire conditions, many afraid to return home for fear that they will be killed by the pro-government Arab militias.
UNICEF’s Bellamy said between 700,000 and 800,000 people will suffer malnutrition and sickness including 500,000 children.
Beshir’s order to the Arab militia to disband has been greeted skeptically in Washington, particularly with his latest criticisms.
Senior US officials said Thursday there is evidence that “genocide” may be taking place in Darfur but Washington has not yet made a legal determination on the issue,
Such a determination, which would require action under international conventions against genocide, is now under active review, the officials said shortly after the State Department announced Powell’s trip to the region.