Sudan’s govt has failed to disarm Janjaweed militia: UN envoy

NEW YORK, Oct 6, 2004 (PANA) — Khartoum made no progress last month in either stopping militia attacks against civilians in Darfur, disarming armed groups in the area or prosecuting individuals responsible for atrocities there, UN envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk told the Security Council here Tuesday.

Briefing the Council, the representative of the UN secretary general painted a bleak picture of conditions in the month of September, citing frequent and sometimes “atrocious” attacks by the militias, numerous breaches of the ceasefire by both government and rebel forces, and an alarming rise in armed banditry.

Pronk said that while Khartoum had not reversed the gains it
achieved in August, “there was no systematic improvement of
people’s security and no progress on ending impunity.”

The envoy said the African Union (AU) must be given the
financial, logistical and training support needed so it can
rapidly expand the size and mandate of its mission in Darfur,
currently limited to monitoring the ceasefire only.

Pronk was briefing the Security Council on a report of UN
secretary general Kofi Annan on the crisis in Darfur.

The report recommended that the AU force be given the power to
protect internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees,
including those living in makeshift camps. It wants the force
given leverage to monitor activities of the local police, and to
disarm fighters, including the Janjaweed militias accused of
committing most of the attacks against civilians.

“Their presence would constitute a buffer between the civilian
population and possible attackers. If one or more of these tasks
remain unfulfilled, an unstable situation will result,
unsustainable peace or even no peace at all,” the report stated.

Pronk later told reporters he was pressing the AU to proceed as
soon as possible with a proposal to increase the size of its
force to more than 3,500 troops, as well as the number of
monitors from the current level of about 350.

Earlier last week when he met with senior European Union
officials in Brussels, Pronk that there was no lack of political
will in the AU, but the regional body was facing a capacity
problem that required support from the international community.

About 1.4 million people in Darfur are IDPs and there are another
200,000 refugees in neighbouring Chad who fled Janjaweed attacks
as well as fighting between Sudanese Government forces and two
rebel groups in the area, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

UN human rights reports accuse the Janjaweed of murdering or
raping thousands of villagers and destroying their homes, wells
and cropland.

At the request of the Security Council, Annan is setting up a
commission of inquiry to determine whether the killings
constitute genocide.