UN envoy says Sudan must rein in militias or seek help

KHARTOUM, Sep 23, 2004 (AP) — The top U.N. envoy to Sudan said Thursday it’s the responsibility of the Sudanese government to rein in the Arab militias in Darfur and Khartoum should not hesitate in seeking foreign assistance in that effort.

Jan Pronk, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special envoy to Sudan, spoke a few days before he reports to the U.N. Security Council on the situation in Darfur.

“The government has the responsibility to stop the militias,” he told reporters. “If you cannot do it, you don’t have the capacity for it or not enough capacity, then certainly you have to ask for international support.”

The Security Council on Sept. 18 approved a resolution threatening oil sanctions against Sudan unless the government reins in Arab militias blamed for a killing spree in Darfur, and ordered an investigation of whether the attacks constitute genocide.

It also strongly endorsed the deployment of a beefed-up African Union force with an expanded monitoring mission that would actively try to prevent attacks and mediate to stop the conflict from escalating.

The AU currently has about 300 monitors.

Pronk said his report will focus on the situation of people on the ground. He said the world body wants to see people protected against violence. He noted “a drop” in the attacks against civilians by people in uniform and stressed that “there should be no breaches of the cease-fire” signed between the government in Khartoum and the Darfur rebels some five months ago.

The conflict in Darfur began last year when rebels with their base among the region’s ethnic African farmers rose up, accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of neglect and discrimination.

The government is accused of trying to put down the rebellion by backing armed Arab herdsmen known as Janjaweed who long have competed with villagers over Darfur’s scarce resources. The escalating violence, which has forced thousands of ethnic Africans from their homes, has been described by the United States as genocide.

The World Health Organization has estimated 50,000 deaths from violence, disease or starvation in Darfur.