UN refugee chief sees Darfur autonomy as way out of crisis
NDJAMENA, Sept 24 (AFP) — UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers said Friday that Sudan should grant more autonomy to Darfur as he began a visit to address the crisis over the exodus of more than 1.4 million refugees from the troubled region.
Lubbers, who arrived in the Chadian capital Ndjamena late Thursday at the head of a high-powered delegation, suggested in a BBC interview that a political solution could end the violence in Darfur.
“My gut feeling is the best would be that Sudan finds itself in a way where it accepts relative autonomies of its region,” said Lubbers, who admitted that his statement had rare political overtones, coming from a UN official.
“Now it’s a bit controversial maybe as a High Commissioner — but I have learned through the years just to speak my mind,” he said.
Lubbers was to meet with President Idriss Deby to thank him for Chad’s hospitality for taking in some 190,000 refugees from Darfur, before flying to the eastern town of Abeche, where one of the biggest refugee camps is located.
The refugees from Darfur are already sheltered in 10 camps along Chad’s border with Sudan and UN officials are bracing for the arrival of some 100,000 more people fleeing violence.
The United Nations has said the world’s worst humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Darfur. The United States and Germany’s defence minister have described the brutal campaign waged by Arab militias in Darfur as a “genocide.”
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s envoy Jan Pronk said Thursday in Khartoum that around 1.4 million people have been forced from their homes in Darfur, the region of western Sudan devastated by 19 months of conflict sparked by an uprising by black African rebels.
The Sudanese government’s response to the uprising was to give Arab militias known as the Janjaweed a free rein to crack down on the rebels and their supporters that has claimed the lives of some 50,000 people, according to UN estimates.
The Janjaweed are accused of murder, rape and torture and using women as sexual slaves.
Mahamat Nour Abdoulaye, the top refugee official in Chad who will be present at the meeting between Lubbers and Deby, told AFP that the central message of his government would be an appeal to the world to share the burden of hosting the refugees.
Chad, one of the world’s poorest nations, says it has depleted its meagre resources to host the refugees and is appealing for aid to its citizens to avert social upheaval.
UN official Kingsley Amaning cited witness accounts that the Janjaweed militia was increasing its presence around camps in Darfur to prevent people from fleeing to Chad, thereby leading to a drop in arrivals.
However, the UN is making contigency plans to host up to 100,000 more Sudanese refugees in Chad.
UN officials also agree that local resentment against refugees is building up and keeping them here for more than a year would be very difficult.
Meanwhile, humanitarian officials say the health situation in refugee camps has improved after an outbreak of hepatitis-E was brought under control, and point out that a cholera epidemic currently ravaging Ndjamena has not yet made its way to the east, where the camps are located.
Lubbers is due to travel to Darfur on Sunday to meet with local leaders in El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, before visiting other areas of the troubled region on Monday.
He is due to meet Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir on Tuesday in Khartoum.