UN agency to increase unarmed ‘protection’ staff in Sudan

By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer

GENEVA, Oct 21, 2004 (AP) — The United Nations will increase the number of unarmed staff in Darfur as part of an effort to improve security for the estimated 1.5 million people who have fled their homes in the troubled western region of Sudan, an official said Thursday.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers talks to the media at Riyad camp in west Darfur, Sept 26, 2004

Throughout the Darfur crisis, persistent violence in the region has largely restricted the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to caring for the additional 200,000 Sudanese who have crossed into neighboring Chad.

UNHCR currently has only 50 people in Darfur, a region roughly the size of Iraq, and some emergency teams that come and go, said agency spokesman Ron Redmond.

“We’re going to substantially increase that number,” he said. UNHCR hopes to start deploying the new staff before the end of the year, Redmond said, though he could not provide exact figures on how many people would be sent to the region.

Security in Darfur remains “bit iffy,” he said. But like all UNHCR workers, the additional staff heading to the region would be unarmed and provide “eyes and ears” to monitor conditions and let the civilians and armed groups know the international community is watching.

“It’s a difficult place to work, but it’s hoped that the more international eyes and ears you get on the ground, the more security we’ll see,” Redmond said.

Darfur’s troubles stem from long-standing tensions between nomadic Arab tribes and their African farming neighbors over dwindling water and agricultural land. Those tensions exploded into violence in February 2003 when two African rebel groups took up arms over what they regard as unjust treatment by the government in their struggle with Arab countrymen.

The United Nations estimates at least 70,000 people have died in and around refugee camps in Darfur since March, but officials say they have no idea how many more have been killed in areas of the region that they cannot reach.

The Sudanese government calls the death toll estimate an exaggeration and maintains that it is doing its best to protect the camps and improve living conditions.

Redmond said the Sudanese government requested UNHCR expand its usual role of caring only for refugees who cross international borders and help provide for those displaced inside Sudan. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has approved the moved, he said.

The conflict in Darfur, which the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, has forced 1.7 million villagers from their homes, and UNHCR hopes an increased presence will encourage the 1.5 million still in Sudan to stay within the country, Redmond said, citing revised numbers.

“Chad is already struggling to cope with the huge influx of refugees from Darfur and is facing the prospect of even more arrivals if the violence and related humanitarian crisis are not brought under control on the other side,” said Ruud Lubbers, the high commissioner.

Lubbers said UNHCR would closely coordinate with the International Committee of the Red Cross, which already is operating throughout Darfur, and with the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.