Sudan bars aid access in east – UN
June 19, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan is barring access for aid workers in the east of the country and worsening security in the western Darfur region has cut off more than 250,000 people, a senior U.N. official said on Monday.
Despite a May 5 peace deal in Darfur, increasing violence has put large swathes of the north, west and south out of reach of one of the world’s largest aid operations, set up to help 2.5 million forced to flee their homes in the remote west of Sudan.
“There are at least 250,000 we cannot reach … mainly due to the impact on the situation of security conditions in specific areas,” said Manuel Aranda da Silva, Sudan’s top U.N. humanitarian official.
He told reporters that while the parties who had signed the peace deal were no longer fighting, other factions were. Rebel infighting had caused most U.N. agencies to withdraw from areas of north Darfur.
Da Silva said camps housing those forced to flee the fighting had been restive since the deal.
“Many of the people in the camps don’t recognise the agreement as their agreement,” he said. “There’s a need for a strong implementation of the peace agreement.”
Thousands of Darfuris languishing in miserable camps have demonstrated against the peace deal almost daily and the protests have turned violent.
Only one rebel faction signed the deal and many other armed groups in Darfur were not present at the talks.
They say it does not give Darfur enough political posts or compensation for war victims. They also want more assurances that they will be involved in disarming the government-allied Janjaweed militia.
Khartoum is to present a plan to disarm militia fighters blamed for much of the violence in Darfur by June 22.
Da Silva said aid workers had also been stopped from moving in Sudan’s east, where a similar conflict has simmered for a decade. Rebels there complain of neglect by the central government.
Peace talks opened last week hoping to resolve the revolt in the east, one of Sudan’s poorest regions which also shelters 120,000 refugees from neighbours Eritrea and Ethiopia.
“We have been denied access to visit refugee camps and if we cannot have access then we cannot provide assistance,” Da Silva said. “We will not be able to continue in the east if we do not have freedom of movement,” he added.
He said despite central government assurances that they would implement a freedom of access agreement signed with the world body, local authorities in the east were not implementing that deal.
Government officials were not immediately available for comment.
(Reuters)