US says “getting nowhere” with crisis in Sudan’s Darfur

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 7 (AFP) — The international community is “getting nowhere” with the crisis in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, the US ambassador to the United Nations, John Danforth, said.

An internally displaced Sudanese woman drags a sack of food distributed by the UN World Food Program, at the Abu Shouk refugee camp, on the outskirts of El-Fasher.(AFP).

After a dire Security Council briefing on the Sudan from the UN’s top political official, Danforth said all parties were “complicit in the disaster” in the region.

“We’re getting nowhere with respect to Darfur. We’ve tried everything. We’ve tried the carrot approach, we’ve tried the stick approach and we’re getting nowhere,” Danforth told reporters.

“The rebels and the government and the militia — all sides — are complicit in the disaster. They sign agreements which apparently mean nothing at all,” he said.

“What we heard today is that responsibility is very broadly shared. Nobody has clean hands with respect to Darfur. There are no good guys,” said Danforth, a former envoy of US President George W. Bush for Sudan.

His remarks came after the council was briefed on a new report from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan which said that “chaos is looming” in Darfur despite peace deals aimed at ending the bloodshed and suffering.

The report also said there were “increasing allegations of some elements in Khartoum supplying arms to militia,” adding that that had not yet been confirmed.

Rebels in Darfur staged an uprising in February 2003 that was put down with the help of Arab proxy militias, known as Janjaweed, which were called into service by the government.

The militias have been blamed for a campaign of ethnic cleansing including rape and pillaging.

An estimated 70,000 people have died, many of hunger and disease, and more than 1.2 million people are believed to have been driven from their homes — most into squalid camps that reports say are still sometimes subject to attack.

“Regrettably, the government has made no progress in disarming the Janjaweed,” despite Security Council resolutions which have also demanded that the government bring to justice those responsible, said Kieran Prendergast, the UN’s top political official.

He said there were reports of “increased activity” by the Janjaweed and other militias, which had led to clashes with the Darfur rebels.

“The latest clashes, which threaten to plunge Darfur into chaos, are of great concern,” Prendergast said.