UN envoy says impossible to fix Darfur crisis soon.
LONDON, Aug 4 (Reuters) — The U.N. envoy to Sudan said on Wednesday the Khartoum government was taking positive steps to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Darfur but a full solution to the regional emergency would be impossible within 30 days.
The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution last Friday threatening sanctions on Sudan if it did not disarm and prosecute marauding Janjaweed militia who have helped displace more than 1 million people in Darfur. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is to report on compliance within 30 days.
Jan Pronk, Annan’s special representative to Sudan, said there had been some confusion in Khartoum about the 30-day deadline given in the resolution.
“They certainly will be able to meet the 30-day deadline to report substantial progress. That is what the Security Council asked,” he told BBC television. “There was some misunderstanding here in Khartoum that the council asked for a full solution of the conflict (in that period). That is impossible.”
Pronk said it was unrealistic to expect the government to solve the crisis in 30 days since it did not control the rebel groups who launched an uprising in early 2003, and did not fully control all Janjaweed militia in the conflict.
“We made clear to them that the Security Council needs proof of substantial, very substantial, progress towards security in Darfur and we are constantly discussing at the moment with the government of Sudan the specific steps to be taken,” Pronk said.
The United Nations estimates more than 30,000 people have been killed in the violence, in which the government has used the Arab militias as auxiliaries against the rebels.
The Janjaweed have long competed with the settled population for land but are accused of going on the rampage in response to the revolt, setting fire to villages, killing, raping and driving people off their land.
Asked what evidence there was that Khartoum was complying with the U.N. resolution, Pronk said: “They have deployed many more policemen in the region and they have stopped their own military activities against villages.
“They have lifted all restrictions on humanitarian assistance. At the same time they have also declared, and I think they are right, that they cannot deal with the problem in 30 days.”
Pronk said security in the refugee camps had also improved, although human rights violations in the countryside continued.
On Tuesday, the U.N. envoy for internally displaced persons, Francis Deng, said people remained afraid to return to their homes because of continued Janjaweed attacks. Khartoum, he said, was pressuring them to return before it was safe to do so.