Militias continue attacks in Sudan’s Darfur: UN
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS, July 19 (Reuters) – Villagers in Sudan’s Darfur region are still being besieged by marauding militia despite pledges by Khartoum to protect them, although access for relief groups has improved, a U.N. report said on Monday.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan intends to determine soon if Sudan has lived up to its promises. He said he would speak on Monday to Jan Pronk, his envoy for Darfur, who briefs the Security Council on Wednesday.
A negative report by Annan could goad the 15-member U.N. Security Council into action. Without taking a stand on the resolution, Annan made clear the pressure should continue.
“I think the important thing is that the international community should make clear they do expect the Sudanese government to honor the commitments it made, and that international community will insist it performs,” he said.
An initial report after a meeting between Sudanese officials and Pronk in Khartoum on Saturday on monitoring the pledges appeared bleak, particularly on the subject of quelling militia, called Janjaweed, who are accused of murdering, raping and uprooting black African villagers.
“At the meeting United Nations officials said that although humanitarian access had improved, there had been no progress on security and protection of internally displaced peoples (IDPs) in the region,” said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in a statement read by Eckhard.
“Instead air raids and attacks by the Janjaweed and government-aligned militias were making IDPs too afraid to return to their villages,” the statement said.
Darfur Africans have blamed mounted Arab fighters for violence that U.N. officials say has made 1.2 million people homeless and forced them into barren camps. More than 30,000 people may have died so far and more than 100,000 have fled to neighboring Chad, U.N. reports estimate.
Some reluctant council members are awaiting Annan’s conclusions before taking any action. A U.S.-drafted resolution would put an immediate travel and arms ban on the Janjaweed, and threatens to extend the bans to Khartoum.
Britain and Germany, however, say this is too little, too late, and the world should put an immediate arms embargo on Sudan if the government does not live up to its obligations.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir promised Annan two weeks ago to disarm militias, begin political talks with rebels and provide access for aid agencies as well as send police to Darfur. Talks between the government and Darfur rebels in Addis Ababa are also faltering.
IS SUDAN COMPLICIT?
Sudan denies it aided the militia. A court sentenced 10 Arab militiamen to amputation and six years in jail in the first conviction of Janjaweed fighters for their actions in Darfur. Khartoum has also dispatched police to Darfur.
But Human Rights Watch, in a report released on Monday, said it had obtained documents showing that the government directed recruitment and other support to the Janjaweed. It feared militia are being absorbed into the new police force.
The documents, dated February and March, called for recruitment and military support including “provisions and ammunition” to be delivered to known Janjaweed leaders and “loyalist tribes.” One orders all security units in the area to tolerate the activities of known Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal in North Darfur, the New York-based rights group said.