Darfur displaced angry as U.N., govt visit

By Nima Elbagir

GENEINA, Sudan, Aug 26 (Reuters) – Angry Darfuris who fled Arab militias told the U.N.’s top envoy in Sudan on Thursday they are still not safe because the Janjaweed who tormented them at home are among security forces guarding refugee camps.

“There is no security in the camp. There are still disturbances. There are still rapes,” Darfuri Adam Abdallah told U.N. envoy Jan Pronk and Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail.

“The security (officers) in the camp are infiltrated with Janjaweed,” he added.

Pronk, who was touring Darfur with Ismail, will brief U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Aug. 30 on Sudan’s compliance with a 30-day Security Council deadline to make progress towards securing Darfur and controlling the so-called Janjaweed militia accused of a campaign of rape and murder.

Khartoum could face sanctions if it does not satisfy the U.N. that it has taken steps to ease what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Separate joint missions of U.N. and Sudanese government officials are making simultaneous tours in South Darfur and North Darfur — the other two states that make up the remote region the size of France.

“Rest assured that the report has not yet been written. The report is being drafted by myself and my colleagues on the basis of the findings of this mission and the two other missions,” Pronk said.

U.N. humanitarian officer, Winnie J. Babhuga, said there had been improvements in the security of some of the so-called safe areas the government has promised to establish.

“Since the middle of June there have been increasing numbers of refugees returning from Chad … because of attraction to humanitarian assistance and relative security/stability in the areas where they return to,” she said, but added that some areas outside the safe areas were still subject to attacks.

Pronk met three women in the Ardamata camp in Western Darfur state who had been raped, and representatives of the displaced who emotionally told him they thought Arab Janjaweed militia, were among the police in the camp.

One man said he had been shot and others told of attacks. But their injuries had been inflicted months ago.

FIRST HIGH-LEVEL VISIT

An aid official said this was the first high-level delegation to visit the camp, so people were anxious to tell their stories, regardless of when they happened.

“It must be differentiated between the natural desire to say all that they have suffered and the information which is relevant to the last month,” he told Reuters.

Khartoum mobilised Arab proxy militias to crush a revolt in Darfur in early 2003 but says it did not support the Janjaweed forces responsible for the abuses and excesses.

The U.N. estimates up to 50,000 have died since the fighting began last year. More than a million people have fled their homes within Darfur and into neighbouring Chad, all dependent on international assistance.

The U.N. food body said on Thursday rainy season, at its peak in Darfur, had cut off many roads making air food drops the only way to get aid to many of those in need. It added it was still short of funds.

A Khartoum security official with the government group provoked an angry disturbance by loudly saying the raped women needed to be checked and that the displaced were lying.

A small crowd gathered outside the office where Pronk and the foreign minister were meeting and chanted: “No, No Janjaweed, God above and foreigners down here.”

One livid old man screamed at television cameras: “We want foreigners to come. We don’t want this government.”

Rights groups and some Darfur residents have said the government arrested and harassed some of the displaced who have spoken with foreign journalists and officials.

But the governor of Western Darfur state gave assurances that none of those who spoke to the U.N. and government delegations would be harmed, and Pronk said he would check.

“We have received a guarantee and their names are known and their faces are known and we will check,” he said.

Pronk said on Monday that killing was still going on in Darfur but the government was trying to improve security.