Special UN envoy urges Sudan to accept more foreign aid
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 2 (AFP) — UN chief Kofi Annan’s special envoy to Sudan urged the Sudanese government to accept international aid if it is unable to protect the population in its troubled Darfur region.
The envoy, Jan Pronk, made a report to the UN Security Council as Darfur rebel groups refused to discuss disarming their forces at peace talks in Nigeria organised by the African Union (AU) in a bid to end the crisis that has seen up to 50,000 people killed.
“We urge the government, if it is unable to fully protect its citizens by itself, to seek, request and accept assistance from the international community,” Pronk said, calling for “an expanded AU mission in Darfur.”
Pronk said Sudan had made “some progress” toward compliance with requirements of resolution 1556 which called on the government to re-establish security and allow aid into Darfur.
“However in two key areas the government has not met its commitments. First it has not been able to stop attacks by militias against civilians, nor to disarm these militias.
“Second, no concrete steps have been taken to bring to justice or even to identify any of the militias leaders or the perpetrators of these attacks,” he added.
“It is the responsibility of the government to protect its people against attacks and violations of human rights,” Pronk stressed.
Pronk said a broader “monitoring mandate” with “many more monitors” would help.
There are now about 133 observers in Darfur protected by an AU force of about 300 troops.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday that an increased international presence was needed in Darfur because Sudan has failed to stop attacks on civilians since it was set a 30 day deadline on July 30 to take action against marauding militias, led by the now notorious Janjaweed.
His report said that “after 18 months of conflict and 30 days after the adoption of resolution 1556, the government of Sudan has not been able to resolve the crisis in Darfur, and has not met some of the core commitments it has made.”
A plan to increase the AU presence has been put to the AU by the United Nations, officials said.
While the Darfur crisis has caused international concern, Canada’s Defence Minister Bill Graham said Wednesday there were only plans to send African troops to Darfur.
According to UN estimates, up to 50,000 people have died in conflict in Darfur, about 1.4 million people have fled their homes with about 180,000 crossing the border into Chad.
In the Nigerian capital, Abuja, Darfur’s rebel groups refused to discuss disarming and demanded an international inquiry into alleged atrocities by government forces.
The insurgents’ hardline stance — which came on the first day of talks on security in the war-torn region of western Sudan — threatened to deadlock the dialogue and undermine the progress made so far on humanitarian issues.
“We are not going to accept the cantonment of our forces, even if it means the collapse of the talks,” said Abdelhafiz Mustapha Musa, a delegate from the Sudan Liberation Movement at the Abuja peace conference.
Government delegates had earlier insisted that the rebels disarm in parallel to the promised demobilisation of Khartoum’s proxy force, the Janjaweed Arab militia, which the United Nations has accused of commiting atrocities against civilians.
“We’ve started talks on the security issue. We will be talking about the simultaneous disarmament of the rebels and the Janjaweed, which has not been done,” said Sudan’s minister for humanitarian affairs, Mohammed Yusuf.
Rebel leaders have said they will only stand down their forces once they have won a full political settlement from the government.
They allege that rural and arid Darfur and its black African minority tribes have been excluded from power and prosperity by Khartoum’s Arab elite.
They have demanded greater autonomy and a share in the national income of the oil-rich nation.