Aid agencies say action is needed to prevent more Darfur deaths
July 17, 2006 (BRUSSELS) — Leading global aid agencies called Monday for urgent action rather than words at a conference on Sudan’s Darfur region this week, saying funds are needed immediately to prevent more people dying.
The call came on the eve of the Brussels meeting Tuesday, co-hosted by UN chief Kofi Annan and the European Union to focus efforts on the African trouble spot, which risks slipping down the global agenda amid the Mideast flareup.
“While an enormous amount of energy is being spent debating what will happen in six months time, no one seems to have noticed that people are still being killed today,” said Denis Caillaux of CARE International, one of eight aid agencies which made a joint appeal to the Brussels conference.
The Brussels meeting, which will involve 72 delegations, will discuss financial support for the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), which could run out of funds as soon as next month.
The conflict in Darfur between rebels and militias backed by Sudanese government troops has left some 300,000 people dead and displaced more than two million others since 2003.
African Union (AU) countries sent troops there in 2004 — a force which now numbers around 7,000 personnel — but the peacekeeping mission has suffered from poor funding and has struggled to contain the violence.
“The international community’s goal is to ensure that AMIS can function at its current level until the end of the year,” said an EU diplomat ahead of the talks.
Last week EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said AMIS, which is likely to be replaced by a United Nations mission, could continue to operate until mid-August or early September.
“After that, we just don’t have enough money,” he said.
AU leaders agreed at a summit in Gambia early this month to extend their peacekeeping force until the end of the year to allow the UN to finalise its preparations to deploy in the vast troubled region.
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir has so far refused to allow a UN force into the region, despite repeated requests from the UN Security Council, the African Union and the Arab League.
AU President Oumar Konare, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer and Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol Ajawin are also to attend the conference.
The aid agencies pressing for action — CARE International, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, International Rescue Committee, Islamic Relief, Oxfam International and Tearfund — were making a joint appeal for the first time.
“This is an international problem, one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world, yet only five donors seem to be properly engaged,” said Haroun Atallah, Chief Executive of Islamic Relief.
“All rich countries must step up their support urgently if the disaster of Darfur isnt to turn into an even worse catastrophe,” he added.
Diplomats admit that the upsurge of violence in the Mideast will inevitably be discussed in the sidelines of the talks, notably by Annan and Solana, who made a snap trip to Lebanon Sunday and will return to the region after the Darfur talks.
(ST)