UN Annan calls for high-level meeting on Darfur
Nov 13, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for a high-level meeting in Ethiopia this weekend involving the U.S., the European Union, Russia and China to discuss the deteriorating situation in the Darfur region of western Sudan, his spokesman said Monday.
The announcement came as the U.N. reported nearly 40 civilian deaths in the last few days in attacks in Darfur by Arab militiamen – some of whom were backed by Sudanese military vehicles.
Annan and the African Union invited representatives from the five permanent members of the Security Council to attend the meeting Saturday in Ethiopia’s capital, said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric. Several African countries, the League of Arab States and the E.U. were also asked to take part.
Dujarric said Annan would attend, as would representatives from Sudan’s government.
The African Union currently has 7,000 troops in the violence-plagued region to monitor a shaky cease-fire signed earlier this year by the government and one rebel faction.
A U.N. resolution has called for the world body to take control of the peacekeeping mission when the A.U. mandate expires on Dec. 31. But Sudan has staunchly opposed a U.N. takeover, insisting that it provide money and logistics to the A.U. troops instead.
“It’s a crucial moment in the discussion of what to do in Darfur, mainly because the African Union mandate is coming to an end and the situation in Darfur is clearly not improving. The time has come to decide how to move the peace process forward,” said Yves Sorokobi, associate spokesman for the secretary-general.
He said the goal of the meeting was to develop a comprehensive package of initiatives that can be taken to an A.U. summit later this month in the Republic of Congo.
The African Union force has been unable to curb violence in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced since the conflict began in February 2003, when ethnic African rebels rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum.
Sudan’s government is accused of raising and equipping the Janjaweed militia of Arab nomads to crush the uprising. The government has acknowledged using several paramilitary groups to reinforce its army in Darfur. But the government blames atrocities on bandits that are beyond its control. The U.S. says the targeted violence constitutes genocide.
On Saturday, about 300 armed militiamen backed by 18 military vehicles attacked a refugee camp in west Darfur, killing 31 people and injuring 18, including women and children, the U.N. mission in Sudan said.
The militiamen also burned nearly 100 homes and stole 500 head of cattle in the attack on the town of Sirba, the mission said. The violence prompted 10 staff members working for international aid organizations to relocate from Sirba to a nearby town, Sorokobi said. He did not know the workers’ nationalities, or their employers.
A day earlier, Arab militia attacked three villages in northern Darfur, killing six civilians, including four children, the mission said.
U.N. investigators and rights groups have blamed the worst atrocities on the Janjaweed, a pro-government Arab militia that is widely accused of killing villagers and destroying their homes. The government denies supporting the Janjaweed.
The U.N. Security Council had been expected to send a delegation to a meeting about the Darfur situation in Ethiopia on Monday, but canceled the trip at the last minute because of disagreements over the mission’s mandate and scope.
At the meeting, the U.N.’s assistant secretary general for peacekeeping operations, Hedi Annabi, pledged a package of personnel and equipment worth $22 million to the cash-strapped and understaffed AU force.
The package, which will be given to the African Union as soon as possible, includes military and police advisers, as well as equipment such as night-vision goggles, Annabi said. He said talks were being held on a second, larger support package.
(AP)