Aid operations in Darfur under threat, says UN relief boss
December 4, 2008 (UNITED NATIONS) – Aid operations for refugees in Chad and Darfur continue to face multiple threats even though the operations are succeeding in keeping people alive, said the top UN humanitarian official, John Holmes.
Some 2.5 million Darfuris, mostly from the Fur, Masilit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, have fled attacks on their villages to concentrate in camps that are provisioned by international aid organizations. Another 263,000 Darfuris fled to Chad.
The conflict in Darfur escalated in 2003 after rebel movements launched attacks on government outposts.
This year a further more than 315,000 people fled due to violence, said Holmes.
Holmes told the UN Security Council Wednesday, “the critical humanitarian challenges today are access and protection of civilians. There are many reasons for our access problems, including the continuing violence, travel restrictions, the politicization of the humanitarian environment, including in the IDP camps, and the dramatic increase in attacks on humanitarians and their property.”
According to the UN official, the authorities in Darfur recently forcibly closed two NGO mental health projects. “An air of unnecessary suspicion continues to hang over the aims of this type of project. I raised these issues with the Government at all levels, and I hope that we can reach a better shared understanding of the essential purpose of protection and find ways of working together to help people living amid these brutal risks,” said the Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
Reuters reported recently that government security forces launched a campaign of intimidation against aid workers, especially in South Darfur, forcing them to hand over e-mail accounts and other files, which puts confidential programs at risk, including rape counseling services.
Attacks on aid workers have reached “unprecedented levels” this year, said Holmes, saying that as of November 30, 261 vehicles had been hijacked and 172 compounds broken into.
“The cars and other valuables stolen seem to find their way mostly to Chad or to Libya for resale. Rebel movements, or groups or individuals
linked to them, appear to be primarily responsible for the majority of these terrifying incidents in rural areas. However, many also occur in main towns in Government control. I call on both the Government security forces and rebel leaders to put a stop to this banditry once and for all,” said Holmes.
The relief boss noted that “attacks on their convoys” had kept World Food Programme rations at only 70%.
CHILD SOLDIERS
Discussing the situation in eastern Chad, where the warfare has driven at least 263,000 refugees from Darfur, 57,000 from the Central African Republic and 180,000 internally, Holmes voiced major concern for politicization and militarization of the refugee camps.
He worried that “recruitment by armed groups, including of children, notably by the Justice and Equality Movement, or JEM, is threatening the civilian and humanitarian nature of the camps. This needs to stop if the humanitarian effort is to be able to continue successfully. UNHCR have already been unable to deliver assistance in one camp for two months for related reasons.”
In response to the accusation made by the UN official, the spokesman of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement called for an international commission of inquiry. Ahmed Hussein Adam said that this is clearly a lie and slander, and that the international official had no evidence of these allegations, adding that JEM knows who recruits displaced persons.
The issue was raised in May when government security forces in Khartoum arrested 89 children in the wake of a JEM raid on the capital. The government showed them on national television and said JEM had used them as soldiers.
Soon after, London-based human rights group Waging Peace, said in a report that refugees from the Darfur conflict as young as nine years old are being sold to armed rebel groups including Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) as child soldiers.
JEM’s deputy chief of staff Suleiman Sandal, speaking with Sudan Tribune from an undisclosed location, flatly denied the entire report.
“From a military standpoint children cannot travel hundreds of kilometers in the desert to the capital then take a week-long journey back to the bases with only water and no food,” he added, referring to ‘Operation Long Arm,’ the failed May 2008 raid on Omdurman.
This week JEM spokesperson Adam said that people from all parts of Sudan are voluntarily joining the movement, and not as Holmes alleged.
Holmes called on the Government of Chad to prevent recruitment in the camps and urged the JEM leadership in particular to “recognize their responsibilities.”
In response, the rebel spokesman claimed that JEM is in conformity with Geneva Convention prohibiting enlistment of children as soldiers.
Similarly, in the camps in Darfur, people are “increasingly frustrated,” said Holmes. He observed, “The longer they stay there, the more questions such as land and property rights increase militancy. Fears are increased by renewed pressure by Government authorities for rapid return, even when security conditions are clearly not right for safety or sustainability.”
Holmes indicated that this issue, along with others, like the environmentally degrading effects of the conflict, cannot be answered by humanitarian relief, but only by “decisive political action.”
The relief boss concluded with reassurances about the potential effects of the impending ruling of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which could issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omer Al-Bashir. Some observers had warned that the ICC move will bring catastrophic government retaliation against the aid operators.
Holmes said that he had discussed the issue with the Government of Sudan and that “regardless of what may happen in the coming months, it is in everyone’s interests to ensure the safety of humanitarians and to sustain the humanitarian operation.”
(ST)