Sudan/UN Joint mission reviews implementation of Darfur pledges

KHARTOUM, Aug 27, 2004 (IRIN) — A team of United Nations and Sudanese
government officials arrived in the western Sudanese Darfur region on
Thursday to assess the implementation of Khartoum’s promises to restore
calm in the area, officials said.

The three-day Joint Implementation Mechanism (JIM) mission is visiting
Darfur to review the implementation of a plan of action in which Khartoum
undertook to improve security and disarm militias accused of committing
atrocities against civilians.

The mission, which includes the UN special envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, and
Sudan’s Foreign Minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, will present its findings
to the UN Security Council, which will decide next week whether Sudan is
making good on commitments to restore security and disarm the militias
responsible for killings and massive displacement.

The Council had given Sudan until 30 August to show that it was making
tangible progress in addressing the Darfur crisis or face punitive
measures, including possible sanctions. In response, Sudan formulated the
action plan.

On Thursday, Pronk and Ismail met with the Wali [governor] of West Darfur
State in the town of El-Geneina. He assured them that all was calm after
the deployment of more police and that there were no militias harassing
civilians in the area, a source close to the mission told IRIN.

More than 1.2 million people have been displaced by conflict in Darfur,
according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA). Another estimated 200,000 Darfurians have sought refuge in
neighbouring Chad.

Most fled their home villages because of attacks by militias known as the
Janjawid, and clashes between government forces and two rebel groups that
took up arms early last year to fight what they said was the
marginalisation of the region by the government.

Khartoum has been accused of aiding and abetting the Janjawid in their
violent campaign against civilians, but the government has denied that its
forces were allied to the militia.

Khartoum’s action plan, unveiled during the third meeting of the JIM in
Khartoum on 13 July, includes a plan to create safe areas for civilians
within a month.

On Wednesday, Pronk said the government had made some positive efforts to
comply with Security Council demands on Darfur, but the implementation of
steps to improve the situation in the troubled region, especially security
for internally displaced persons, was still “mixed”.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday there were still 16
camps for Janjawid militias in Darfur. “Throughout the time Khartoum was
supposedly reining in the Janjawid, these camps have been operating in
plain sight,” Peter Takirambudde, executive director of HRW’s Africa
division said in a statement. “These Janjawid camps should be immediately
investigated by the UN and the African Union ceasefire monitors, then
disbanded.”

“The existence of these Janjawid camps shows clearly that Khartoum is not
at all serious about ending atrocities and providing security,”
Takirambudde said. “The fact that there are still armed camps filled with
killers terrorizing civilians in Darfur makes it impossible for people to
go home.”

According to HRW, the camps were located within kilometers of internally
displaced persons camps, such as those at Masry, Kutum and Um Sayala in
North Darfur, and near Nyala in South Darfur.