Annan alarmed by worsening security in Darfur
Dec 7, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — UN chief Kofi Annan, alarmed by reports of mass rapes and other “gross violations of human rights,” on Thursday expressed deep concern about the worsening security situation in Sudan’s Darfur region and its impact on neighboring countries.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the outgoing UN secretary general was “deeply concerned about the worsening security situation in Darfur and its consequences for the wider region, including Chad and the Central African Republic.
“He is alarmed by the devastating impact the violence is having on the civilian population in the region, and strongly condemns the recent attacks and destruction of dozens of villages in North Darfur,” Dujarric said in a statement.
More than 80,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the past six weeks alone, 50,000 of them in Darfur and 30,000 in Chad, according to the statement.
“Several hundred civilians, including women, children and elderly, have been killed, and there are very disturbing reports of mass rapes and other gross violations of human rights,” it added.
Annan, who is to be succeeded as UN chief by South Korea’s former foreign minister Ban Ki-Moon, also bemoaned the fact that the escalating violence was cutting off almost one million people across Darfur from desperately needed humanitarian relief.
“In both Darfur and Chad, relief workers are being attacked on a daily basis, and dozens of their vehicles have been hijacked in the last few weeks, threatening the humanitarian lifeline for a total of 4.3 million people in the region,” the UN statement said.
“Those violating international humanitarian law by attacking civilians and relief workers must be held accountable, it said, adding that Annan had urged Khartoum to restore law and order in areas under its control and called on “all parties to ensure unimpeded humanitarian access to all those in need.”
Monday, a former rebel leader allied with Khartoum said that pro-government Sudanese militias were attacking the key Darfur town of El-Fasher, and he threatened to quit the government if the assault was not halted.
“Even as I am talking to you, we are facing a Janjaweed attack on El-Fasher’s cattle market,” Sudan Liberation Movement chief Minni Minnawi said in Khartoum.
Minnawi signed a peace agreement in May with President Omar al-Beshir’s ruling National Congress Party and was subsequently appointed as his adviser.
Two other rebel factions rejected the deal, however, while pro-government forces and their allied Janjaweed militia continued their attacks in Darfur, a vast western region devastated by almost four years of conflict and famine.
According to the UN, the conflict has claimed 200,000 lives and left some two million people displaced.
(AFP)