Darfur: UN must be ready to intervene without Sudan’s consent
Aegis Trust
Media Release
September 5, 2006 — With the AU still set to end its Darfur mission by 30 September unless transfer to a UN peacekeeping mission can be achieved, the Aegis Trust is calling for diplomacy to secure Sudan’s agreement for this – but also for the UN Security Council to plan for intervention without Sudan’s consent in the event that the AU pulls out and civilians die as a result of ensuing insecurity.
Three million Africans are dependent on humanitarian aid in Darfur. Without an international force to offer safety for the humanitarian operation, which is already severely restricted by the lack of security, it could quickly be rendered totally ineffective or be forced to withdraw.
“A protection force needs to be hours away, not months”
“Concerted diplomacy is needed to persuade the Government of Sudan to accept the UN peace support operation, as it has done in the South, and to allow the AU to extend its mandate and remain in Darfur until transfer to the UN can be achieved,” says Dr James Smith, Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust, the UK’s leading genocide prevention organisation. “However, the UN Security Council needs to plan now for non-consensual intervention as a last resort. With millions of lives under imminent threat, a protection force needs to be hours away, not months. Non-consensual intervention is far from ideal, but twelve years after the Rwandan genocide, for the World to stand by and let wholescale mass murder unfold would be unthinkable.”
Day for Darfur – 17 September
The Aegis Trust is part of a global coalition behind the ‘Day for Darfur’, scheduled for 17 September, which will see activists in New York, Abuja, London, Nairobi, Paris, Berlin, Kigali and a string of other major cities demonstrating in support of the proposed UN peacekeeping force for Darfur and calling on Sudan to accept the resolution. Organisers are calling on the public to don ‘blue hats’ on the day as a sign of their support. See www.dayfordarfur.org for more information.
ENDS
For more information, contact Media Officer David Brown, mobile: 07812 640873, email: [email protected] or Parliamentary Officer Hratche Koundarjian, mobile: 07905 911039, email: [email protected]
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