Sudan agrees to send troops to stop militia violence in Darfur
By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS, Associated Press Writer
KHARTOUM, Sudan, July 03, 2004 (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan won a promise from Sudan’s government to send troops to stop militia violence that has forced 1 million people to flee in the Darfur region, in what has been called world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
A joint communique signed before Annan’s departure Saturday itemized the major agreements reached between the U.N. official and Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir.
Annan had visited several camps in a tour aimed at pressing el-Bashir’s government to end the 16-month Darfur conflict. He wanted Sudan’s government to make good on promises to disarm the Janjaweed, the militia blamed for attacks on black Africans.
“My message is simple, violence must stop,” Annan told reporters after meeting el-Bashir on Friday in Khartoum’s heavily guarded military headquarters. “The Janjaweed must be stopped and a cease-fire must be respected by all.”
Sudan promised to “immediately start to disarm the Janjaweed and other armed outlaw groups” and also said it would deploy a “strong, credible” police force to protect displaced persons camps and other areas susceptible to attacks, the communique said.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters Friday that 6,000 soldiers and policemen would be deployed in Darfur to improve security, but he did not say when.
“The priority now is for security, then the return of the displaced persons, and this is to go hand in hand with the political settlement,” Ismail said.
Sudan’s pledge came as the United States raised the possibility of sanctions if the government fails to act quickly to end attacks by Arab militias and allow humanitarian aid to reach displaced people.
The communique said the United Nations recognized Sudan’s improvements in allowing humanitarian access to Darfur but highlighted the urgency of the situation by pushing for the resumption of talks between the government and the rebel group.
“The U.N. shall continue the preparations it has started for a possible peacekeeping role when agreements are reached,” the communique said.
Thousands of people have been killed and more than 1 million forced from their homes, most taking shelter in makeshift camps with little access to clean water or proper sanitation.
U.N. officials have called the situation the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, and Annan has said it “is bordering on ethnic cleansing.”
Many Sudanese who have fled tell similar stories of airplanes dropping bombs and raiders on horseback who burn, kill and loot.
U.N. officials and human rights groups have accused the Sudanese government of backing the Arab militias, engaged in a campaign to violently expel African farmers from the vast western region.
The Sudanese government denies any complicity in the militia attacks and says the warring sides are clashing over land and scarce water resources.
In the communique, Sudan committed itself to investigating all human rights violations and bringing perpetrators to justice “without delay.” It also committed itself to establishing a system that would allow women to bring charges against alleged assailants.
Annan, who visited refugees at camps in Sudan and Chad, said he learned firsthand of many human rights abuses, “including sexual violence against women.”
After Friday’s talks in Khartoum, Annan said “now we have a commitment from President el-Bashir to remove all obstacles that face humanitarian action in Darfur.”
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell also visited Sudan this week, and made clear to Khartoum leaders that the United States is only willing to wait a “few weeks” for the government to act, said Andrew Natsios, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, who traveled with Powell.
“We’re talking days, weeks, not months — not a month — to see whether or not they do what they said they would do,” said Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of States for African Affairs Charles Snyder, who joined Natsios on Friday in briefing the U.N. Security Council in New York.
The U.N. children’s agency in Geneva said Friday that many young people from Darfur either had been victims of violence or scarred by witnessing violent acts, including rape and murder.
“I spoke with scores of children, who simply tell what they have seen — infants shot in front of them, parents gunned down in fields, mothers raped — and people being forced to run for their lives with nothing,” said Dan Toole, UNICEF’s director of emergency operations.
The United States called on the United Nations to impose an arms embargo and travel ban on the Arab militias in a draft resolution submitted Wednesday to coincide with Powell’s visit to Darfur.
The Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army, two rebel groups drawn from the region’s African tribes, took up arms in February 2003 over what they regard as unjust treatment by the government in their struggle over land and resources with Arab countrymen in Darfur.
A cease-fire was signed April 8, but both sides accuse each other of violations.