Sudan obstructs aid workers because of denouncing rights violations– UN
April 4, 2007 (UNITRD NATIONS) — The UN humanitarian chief told the Security Council today that Sudan blames aid workers in Darfur for inappropriate political activities but in fact government does not tolerate people who speak about violation of humanitarian rights.
“This allegation usually appeared to refer to advocacy activities about the protection of civilians from abuse of their rights.” he explained.
Holmes furthermore considered such accusation as “insidious pressure on agencies and discriminations between supposed “good” and “bad” ones, to cease.”
He also told the council that Sudanese police officers raped on March 16, two young girls, a 10-year old gril and a12-year old girl in Tawilla camp in North Darfur.
The newly appointed UN relief chief visited Sudan for the first time at the end of March. The visited Southern Sudan as well as Darfur region. Holmes was barred by the Sudanese security service from visiting Kassab refugee camp, one of Darfur’s most violence-plagued refugee camp.
“I’m frustrated, annoyed, but it’s not atypical of what happens here,” Holmes told journalists traveling with him.
During his meeting with the Sudanese officials, Holmes pressed Sudanese officials to grant better access to aid workers trying to help Darfurians amid widespread complaints that humanitarian groups face constant obstacles from the authorities in reaching victims of the conflict.
Darfur is the scene of the biggest aid operation in the world, with some 4 million people in full or partial need of outside aid in a bloody conflict between Darfur rebels, the government and the pro-government janjaweed militias.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and over 2 million forced to flee into refugee camps in four years of fighting, and the Arab janjaweed are accused of widespread atrocities against ethnic African civilians.
(ST)
— –
The following is the part related to the Sudan from the statement of John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator to the UN Security Council over Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan, Chad, and CAR on Wednesday April 4, 2007.
Sudan
Mr. President,
Let me finally turn to Sudan. This week marks a sad anniversary – it was on 6 April 2004, three years ago this week, that the Council heard its first briefing on Darfur, by my predecessor Jan Egeland. Three years ago, 230 relief workers in Darfur were struggling to assist 350,000 people. Today, more than 13,000 relief workers aim to help almost 4 million people affected by the conflict, more than 2 million of whom are displaced. I was impressed by the scale and, in many respects, success of the operation. I was inspired by the dedication and courage of the relief workers.
Currently, while there is relatively little actual fighting between Government forces and the rebel groups, violent incidents occur almost daily, from bloody tribal clashes in South Darfur, through continued Janjaweed and other militia attacks on villages, to the present state of generalized insecurity and lawlessness where unpredictable violence and impunity are the rule. If military casualties are relatively few, civilians remain the principal victims. The need for massive humanitarian assistance continues to grow, with the international community providing 95% of the $800 million or so now needed every year, because the problem continues to grow remorselessly.
Over the past six months, nearly a quarter of a million more innocent civilians have been forced to abandon their homes, seeking refuge mainly from Government-supported militia attacks. They have fled to camps in all three Darfur states, in many cases to camps that were already beyond capacity. Well over a third of the population of Darfur is now displaced, at 2.2 million people. At the current rate, the same could be true for over half the population in another 18 months or so. This is a horrifying prospect. Meanwhile, politicization and militarization of camps have become a fact of life, creating a future time bomb just waiting to go off.
And one of the saddest facts about the three years which have passed is that the people who were in the camps then are still there, no doubt beginning to lose hope of ever being able to return to their homes and their former lives.
Violations of humanitarian law and abuses of human rights continue unchecked, not least of gender-based violence. On 16 March – two weeks ago – a 10-year old girl and a 12-year old girl were raped, apparently by police officers, in Tawilla IDP camp in North Darfur. As I walked through As Salaam camp near El Fasher, hundreds of little girls and boys trailed in my wake. I couldn’t help but wonder how many might yet suffer this horror.
I said that the humanitarian operation in Darfur has been in many respects a success. The majority of the four million people in need appear to have adequate food, clean water, and basic sanitation, shelter, medical care, and at least in some cases, access to rudimentary education. However, and fundamentally, as I have already made clear, we have failed to protect people effectively from violence and abuses, even if the humanitarian presence itself represents a significant deterrent, as do the successive reports on about what is going on in Darfur, for example the recent damning report of the Human Rights Council.
No one party to the conflict can claim the moral high ground – all parties appear to be responsible for these continuing and widespread violations of international humanitarian law and abuses of human rights. Nevertheless, as I reminded them at every occasion, the Government of Sudan has the primary responsibility to protect its population, and is accountable for the proper investigation and prosecution of those accused of committing crimes.
There are also a number of threats to the humanitarian effort itself which could easily lead to its unravelling. The first is the sheer scale. How long can the international community sustain such a costly and difficult operation? How long can the people of Darfur bear the human cost?
Second is access, which has been shrinking steadily for some time now. The position varies from day to day but there are up to a million people at any one time whom we cannot reach. For example, I visited a rebel-held area in the Jebel Marra which has had virtually no help for several months because the main road is blocked and where lack of a decent diet and medical care is beginning to tell. The biggest obstacle to free access is of course the general and unpredictable insecurity in Darfur. The impact of this limited access is already beginning to be seen in the main nutrition and health indicators which are once again beginning to turn in the wrong direction.
But there are also significant bureaucratic obstacles. I experienced this third threat first hand when I was stopped and turned around at a military checkpoint just outside Kutum in North Darfur trying to visit Kassab camp. Though the Government later apologized, if such an incident could happen on my visit – with journalists documenting my every step – one can easily imagine the daily struggles faced by aid workers on the ground in Darfur, a point I made forcefully both to the local authorities and central government.
Despite this personal experience I can report some recent potential progress. On 28 March, the Government of Sudan signed a further ‘Joint Communiqué’ with the United Nations, designed to alleviate the administrative burdens that have so severely hampered the relief operation in recent months. The Communiqué commits the Government of Sudan to speedy delivery of visas, permits, and customs clearance, with specific deadlines. It also establishes a joint follow up committee, co-chaired by the Sudanese Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and the UN Humanitarian Coordinator which will meet monthly. Full and continued implementation of all aspects of this agreement is not too much to expect. The Government of Sudan should do all it can to facilitate the work of those who are saving the lives of its own citizens.
The fourth threat is the continuing consequences of violence against the aid workers themselves. Staff have been physically and verbally abused, offices and residences raided and personal belongings stolen. Vehicles are routinely hijacked at gunpoint, often in broad daylight, even on occasion in state capitals themselves. Here too, none of the parties can claim innocence. In short, those who have come to help the population are now themselves targets, not helped by a media campaign about the supposed crimes of relief workers, including suggestions of espionage and hidden political agendas.
One particular incident in Nyala in January involved a raid, conducted by Government officials, on an NGO compound. Twenty UN, NGO, and AMIS staff were arrested, abused verbally and physically, and charged with criminal offences. I asked all those I met from the Government to ensure that these charges were dropped altogether. The humanitarian community feels, rightly, doubly victimized in this incident. Those concerned were not only assaulted, but then themselves charged with a crime, literally adding insult to injury. I strongly urge again that my request is quickly acted upon. The latest news that those concerned have been asked to appear in court tomorrow in Nyala does not look like the symbol of cooperation the international community is expecting.
Mr. President, let me deal with one important point in this context. During my trip government officials repeatedly suggested that some NGOs engaged in inappropriate “political” activities in Darfur. This allegation usually appeared to refer to advocacy activities about the protection of civilians from abuse of their rights. In other words, giving food and shelter is acceptable, speaking out about violations of humanitarian law is not. But speaking out to protect civilians is part of the core of humanitarian action today and reflects the overwhelming concern of the international community – and this Council – with the safety and protection of civilians in Darfur. I expect this kind of insidious pressure on agencies, and discrimination between supposed “good” and “bad” ones, to cease.
Let me also take this opportunity to offer my deepest condolences to the families of the five Senegalese AMIS Protection Force soldiers killed in Darfur on Sunday. This grievous loss, following so closely after the murder of two AMIS peacekeepers in Gereida exactly one month ago, is yet another example of those who come to assist the population of Darfur themselves being targeted.
In sum, Mr. President, despite its scale and success in sustaining millions and saving literally hundreds of thousands of lives, the Darfur humanitarian operation is increasingly fragile. The agencies and the people keeping it going are under growing pressure from the factors I have described. Morale is low. If things do not get better, or if there were more serious incidents involving humanitarian workers, some organisations could start to withdraw and the operation could start to unravel. Then we could face a rapid humanitarian catastrophe. No one wants this. We must do everything in our power to avoid it. The government of Sudan has a particular responsibility to ensure it is avoided. And I hope from the bottom of my heart that I do not have to do another briefing like this, or worse, next April.
Mr. President,
I also visited Juba in Southern Sudan to review humanitarian efforts there, in the context of the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. While there has been significant progress, such as the beginning of the return of refugees and IDPs, other issues including the Abyei boundary, the realignment of forces, and demobilization remain. However, while the immediate humanitarian need is diminishing, there is an urgent need to increase recovery and development assistance to help maintain peace. In particular Darfur must not distract the international community from the fundamental importance of this North-South agreement. On the other side, as the Government of Southern Sudan themselves clearly recognize, they have a huge stake in a peaceful and rapid resolution of the conflict in Darfur.
Similarly, the success of the peace talks between the Lord’s Resistance Army and Government of Uganda, set to restart later this month, is vital. A peaceful resolution to this 20-year conflict would help not only to stabilize the CPA, but would also relieve one of the longest-standing humanitarian crises in Africa, with 1.4 million people still displaced in Northern Uganda. Special Envoy Chissano’s work has been critical in reinforcing this African-led initiative. For our part, OCHA will continue to support the Juba Initiative Project, together with our colleagues in the Departments of Political Affairs and Peacekeeping Operations.
Mr. President, let me conclude with a few brief thoughts about what I saw and heard overall.
First, I was struck by the complexity of the conflicts in each of the countries I visited, involving as they do, in addition to deep political problems, many-layered mixes of ancient rivalries and tensions between different ethnic and tribal groups, between pastoralists and farmers, exacerbated by the encroachment of the desert and the breakdown of traditional structures, and between leaders with complex past and present relationships.
Second, there is a clear regional aspect to the conflicts which drive the deep humanitarian problems with which we are trying to grapple. The spill-over effect from Darfur is clear, not least in Eastern Chad. If we are going to solve the individual conflicts, in a lasting way, we therefore need a regional approach where the issues are tackled as far as possible in parallel.
But third, there is a clearly internal aspect to each conflict too, tempting though it is for the governments concerned to shift all the blame on to Darfur. In other words, there have to be national solutions in addition to the regional approach.
And fourth, in each country, the fundamental and crying need is above all for political solutions brought about through dialogue and mediation, aided from outside where necessary, but relying on the national actors themselves. This means politicians and leaders ceasing to play protracted games with each other, with little or no thought to the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of their fellow citizens, whom the international community meanwhile keeps alive. For the international community, it means investing more intensely in conflict prevention, resolution, and mediation. There is no more important actor in this than the UN Security Council. This is the best investment of all, especially compared to the appalling human cost of what we see in the three countries I visited. And what we are spending on the sticking plaster of massive humanitarian aid could be so much more productively used on development.