Security situation in Darfur is ‘grim’: UN’s Pronk

Mar 15, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The special UN envoy in Sudan Wednesday described the security situation in west Sudan’s Darfur region as “grim” and warned it would deteriorate further if no peace agreement were reached.

“The security situation is grim as fighting is going on on a daily basis,” Jan Pronk told reporters in his weekly press briefing at the Khartoum headquaters of the UN mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

“Villages in South Darfur are being attacked by militiamen on camel-back, killing about 400 persons since last February,” said the UN envoy, warning of what he termed “tribal cleansing, with people chasing others in different parts of Darfur.”

Instead of blaming the government or the rebel movements, Pronk said this “cleansing” was being conducted by militiamen he did not identify “for private, political or economic reasons to take over lands of other tribes.

“The security situation will remain grim and will deteriorate further if peace is not reached in Darfur,” he said.

Pronk lamented that no progress has been made at negotiations in Abuja. When asked to comment on a recent meeting in Tripoli of Vice President Ali Osman Taha with Darfur rebel leaders, Pronk said Abuja “will continue to be the only venue of the (inter-Sudanese) negotiations.”

Asked about recent statements by Sudanese officials that they will take steps to speed up the peace process, Pronk said: “I have heard this but I have not seen on the ground such steps which have to be translated into decisions in the negotiations. I hope such steps will be made in the right direction and in the right place (Abuja).”

He declined to comment on other statements by the government that it would not permit international forces in Darfur, saying: “It is the UN Security Council that will decide on this matter and will do so in its meeting on Sudan next Tuesday in which I will be present.”

(ST/AFP)