Lobby group presses G8 to head off Darfur disaster

BRUSSELS, June 6 (AFP) — The International Crisis Group (ICG) called on leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) richest countries Sunday to act urgently to head off an “impending disaster” in Sudan’s restive western region of Darfur.

In an open letter to the G8 leaders, preparing to meet this week off the eastern US coast, the leading lobby group called on them to support a UN Security Council resolution pressing the Khartoum government over the crisis.

“The time for action by world leaders is now. Hundreds of thousands of lives are already at risk and every weeks delay has ever more deadly consequences,” said an ICG statement.

ICG head and former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans called in the open letter for “immediate and strong action to protect hundreds of thousands of lives now at risk in Darfur.

“If the promises of the international community since the Rwandan genocide a decade ago are to have meaning, the international community must act now to protect these people,” he said.

Darfur is in the throes of a humanitarian crisis prompted by a rebel conflict sparked in February 2003, which led to a fierce and widely condemned retaliation by government forces and allied militia.

At least 10,000 people are believed to have died and one million people have fled the impoverished region after attacks by government troops and militias, with more than 100,000 taking refuge in neighbouring Chad, according to the UN.

The ICG specifically called on the G8 leaders to press Khartoum to implement a vow to provide immediate and full access for aid operations, taking measures to stop further fighting and atrocities, and supporting political negotiations.

“As the UN itself has noted, Darfur represents the most acute humanitarian crisis in the world today. ICG urges you to act immediately to prevent possibly hundreds of thousands of deaths over the coming months,” said Evans.