Darfur situation worsening but aid workers will remain – UN
Sept 26, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Aid workers are getting less and less access to those in need in the war-torn Darfur region even as 50,000 people fled their homes amid a government offensive this month, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator in Sudan says.
Manuel Aranda Da Silva said the situation in Darfur had never been so bad for aid workers’ access since August 2003, the start of the conflict that has since killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million in the vast region of western Sudan.
“There have been new, huge difficulties and aid groups have had to pull out from large areas,” he told The Associated Press in an interview Monday in Khartoum.
The U.N. estimates 100,000 people have been displaced by violence since May, and Da Silva said half of those fled in September when the Sudanese army launched a major offensive against rebels in North Darfur province, one of three that make up the region.
U.N. agencies in the field estimate that hundreds of soldiers and rebels have been killed in the campaign. Da Silva also feared that indiscriminate aerial bombardments of villages hosting rebels could create more civilian casualties.
Aid organizations have been unable to operate in North Darfur, meaning they cannot deliver medical or food aid to some 350,000 in need.
Throughout Darfur, banditry is on the rise, as is violence between pro- and anti-government tribes in the south, making regions there dangerous for relief agencies to work in, da Silva said.
Top U.N. officials have warned that the recent peace agreement was “in a coma” and that aid workers would have to leave if security further deteriorates.
However, da Silva said aid agencies and non-governmental organizations were committed to staying on.
“We have a humanitarian responsibility toward the people of Darfur, we are not considering to leave,” said Da Silva, the deputy head of the U.N. in Sudan and the humanitarian cooordinator.
Aid workers would only pull out if ordered to do so by the Sudanese government or if the level of violence renders any effort useless, he said.
The Darfur conflict erupted in 2003 when mainly ethnic African rebel groups, complaining of discrimination by the Arab-dominated government, launched their revolt. The government responded with a military assault, and pro-government militias known as the janjaweed launched a campaign of violence against villagers.
Da Silva said there has recently been a strong increase in attacks on humanitarian groups, and that 11 aid workers had been killed over the past three months. More than 25 vehicles were stolen at gunpoint, mostly by rebels.
Rogue rebel chiefs who have resorted to looting have become the greatest danger to aid work, da Silva said.
“Not only do they steal cars, but we have to re-negotiate access on a near daily basis,” said da Silva. He said humanitarian groups have pressured rebels to return stolen goods and to allow safe-conduct by addressing their families and tribes, who also benefit from the aid.
The recent casualties among aid workers were Sudanese nationals, who make up all but 1,000 of the 15,000 humanitarian workers in Darfur, he said. The latest death was a Sudanese nurse from the International Rescue Committee who was killed by a pro-government militia in a hospital in North Darfur earlier in September.
Because of the increased danger, aid groups are changing how they operate in much of Darfur.
“We have to reconfigure our means of assistance, becoming less present on the ground,” da Silva said. He said this mobile assistance would rely more on helicopters, partnerships with community leaders and small units briefly stopping in villages to provide emergency help.
Da Silva said such plans had been made in anticipation of the possible withdrawal of the African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur.
The current AU force was scheduled to be replaced by a larger U.N. force this month, but Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir opposes U.N. intervention in Darfur. The AU has announced it will stay on until at least the end of the year.
On Monday, the president of the African Union said U.N. peacekeeping troops should not be sent to Darfur without the Sudanese government’s approval.
“No soldier should go to Sudan without the permission of the Sudanese government because it’s not about making war with the Sudanese people but helping them,” AU head Alpha Oumar Konare told the Caracas-based television station Telesur during a visit to Venezuela.
Konare’s comments came a day after al-Bashir lashed out at the U.S., saying Washington’s plans to “re-colonize Sudan” and create “a new Middle East” in Israel’s interests were behind an international push to replace AU peacekeepers with U.N. forces in Darfur.
Many fear a security vacuum will emerge should the AU force leave without being replaced.
Most refugees say they will return to their villages as soon as these are deemed safe, and da Silva worried about recent talk in government circles to send people back by force.
“I’ve seen how government handles security in Darfur,” he said. “If the army goes into the camps, there will be unpredictable violence.”
(AP/ST)