Sudan’s Darfur violence threatens to halt aid work – UN

Sept 28, 2005 (GENEVA) — Escalating violence in the Sudanese region of Darfur is threatening to halt aid work as increasing numbers of international staff come under attack, the U.N. humanitarian chief said Wednesday.

“My warning is the following: if it continues to escalate, if it continues to be so dangerous on humanitarian work, we may not be able to sustain our operation for 2.5 million people requiring lifesaving assistance,” said Jan Egeland, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“It could all end tomorrow – it’s as serious as that,” he told reporters at U.N. offices in Geneva.

Last week, the top U.N. envoy for Sudan, Jan Pronk, gave the Security Council a sobering assessment of the situation in Darfur, warning violence was on the rise, despite ongoing talks between government officials and rebel forces in the Nigerian capital of Abuja.

Egeland said the surge in violence is increasingly being directed at international aid workers, whether by rebel forces, the government-backed militia, ethnic gangs, armed bandits or even government forces.

“In the last few days, we have seen colleagues being harassed, attacked, robbed or abducted every day – it cannot continue,” he said.

The crisis in Sudan’s western region of Darfur erupted when rebels took up arms against what they saw as years of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of African origin. The government is accused of responding with a counterinsurgency campaign in which the ethnic Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, committed widespread abuses against ethnic Africans.

(AP/ST)