US says conditions in Darfur remain ‘wholly inadequate’
WASHINGTON, Aug 11 (AFP) — The United States said the situation in Sudan’s crisis-torn western region of Darfur remained “wholly inadequate” despite Khartoum’s claims to be meeting UN requirements to improve conditions or face possible sanctions.
The State Department said Sudan had yet to act decisively to rein in pro-government Arab militias accused of conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign against Darfur’s black African residents or follow through on pledges to remove all restrictions on humanitarian aid.
“There remain major problems in Darfur with respect to both the security, as well as the provision of humanitarian aid,” deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.
“The security situation in Darfur remains wholly inadequate: there is not the level of disarming and the level of prosecution and arrest and containment of the Janjaweed that has been committed to,” he told reporters, referring to the militia.
Ereli’s comments came after Sudan’s President Omar al-Beshir insisted earlier Wednesday in Khartoum that his government was doing its utmost to end the crisis, rejecting criticism from the “evil powers” in the international community.
They also came a day after a series of harsh reports were released by aid agencies and rights groups accusing Khartoum of failing to curb brutal repression by the Janjaweed, provide safety to civilians and of being behind fresh violence including attacks by government helicopter gunships in Darfur.
But he declined to comment specifically on allegations from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the United Nations of new attacks, killings, rapes and looting, as well as unlawful arrests and detentions of civilians.
“I’m not going to give you a running commentary, an evaluation, on every single report that’s coming in,” Ereli said.
Ereli noted that UN Security Council resolution 1556 which was passed last month and gave Sudan 30 days, to rein in the Janjaweed and ease humanitarian conditions in Darfur or face the threat of sanctions calls for a full report on Khartoum’s compliance on August 30.
“We need to wait to get all the information and have those empowered and authorized to do so to make their report and make our judgments on the basis of that full consideration of everything,” he said.
The United Nations estimates that up to 50,000 people have been killed since Sudan’s army forces and the Janjaweed cracked down on a rebellion by minority tribes which erupted in Darfur in February 2003, but the government vehemently disputes that figure.
Another 1.2 million people have fled their homes in Sudan and up to 200,000 more have been settled in makeshift camps in neighboring Chad, according to the United Nations which has called the situation the world’s worst current humanitarian crisis.