Britain prefers monitors to military action to avert disaster in Sudan
By Ewen MacAskill
KHARTOUM, June 09, 2004 (The Guardian) — The British government ruled out international military intervention yesterday in the face of the impending humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan and is instead placing its faith in a small African Union contingent sent in to monitor the shaky ceasefire.
The military option was dismissed by Hilary Benn, the international development secretary, who was due to fly home yesterday after a three-day visit to Sudan.
More than a million people are homeless in Darfur province after attacks by marauding Arab militias armed by the Sudanese government.
The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, fearful of another catastrophe on the scale of the Rwandan genocide, said in April that the international community must be prepared to take a series of steps “that may include military action”.
Britain, a major player in Sudan because of its historic role there, and its large donor programme, is opposed to such action. Although Sudan could be propducing half as much oil as Kuwait within a decade, the US too has no appetite for intervention, especially after Iraq.
The British government is pursuing the alternative policy of putting diplomatic pressure on the Sudanese government and offering support to the 120 monitors sent by the African Union, the pan-continental organisation.
Mr Benn described the plight of the 1.3 million people who have fled to makeshift camps as “the most serious humanitarian emergency in the world today”.
Asked about military intervention, he said: “I do not think it is a helpful suggestion. I think we should let the monitors do their work. I think they will make a difference.”
The first of the AU monitors, funded initially by Britain, began work yesterday in el-Fasher, in the north of Darfur.
A ceasefire was agreed in April between the rebel Sudanese Liberation Army and the Arab militias.
But the attacks on villages have continued and the refugees claim that the Arab militias are entirely responsible.
The British government believes that a large international force would be impractical in dealing with the militias or protecting the refugees.
But some in the aid agencies, while also supporting the monitors, propose that their effectiveness should be reviewed in about six weeks.
Hundreds are already dying daily from malnutrition and disease and number is likely to rise sharply with the onset of the three-month rainy season.
The UN appealed at a donors’ conference in Geneva last week for $288m (£156m), but it is still $80-100m short. Britain said yesterday that it would provide an extra £15m.
The Sudanese government, which has been accused of obstructing the aid effort, promised Mr Benn that it would lift travel restrictions and other bureaucratic obstacles, and speed up the clearance of aid through customs.
There are at least 50 refugee camps in Darfur. Among the best, though still basic, is al-Shouk at el-Fasher, in the north, which has rows of tiny plastic tents, whereas at el-Meshtel, also at el-Fasher, the refugees sleep in the open.
Kalma, in the south, near Nyala, has basic medical support but little shelter.
A 20-minute rainstorm at Kalma which created havoc and left the dirt track to the camp in danger of becoming impassable showed the vulnerability of these camps and provided a glimpse of the impact likely when sustained and torrential rain arrives.
According to the UN, 18 of the camps will be inaccessible for two to six days after heavy rain, and 12 of them inaccessible from July to September.
There are conflicting views among aid workers about a prediction at Geneva last week by USaid, the US government agency, that about 350,000 people are already doomed to die in the next few months.
Some aid workers say that a figure of tens of thousands is more realistic, but no one can be sure.
The UN World Food Programme has positioned food dumps which can provide aid for up to a month -to those camps cut off. But although the stocks are in place, the aid organisations cannot guarantee that they will be able to distribute them.
Having missed the planting season at home, the refugees will need international support for at least the next 18 months to two years.