Is Darfur to starve while Sudan is rewarded?

PROTECT DARFUR

Less than 72 hours before the start of an international conference in Oslo, Norway, at which governments will discuss the donation of US$1.2bn dollars to the Government of Sudan in reconstruction and development aid following its peace agreement with rebels in the south, the World Food Programme has announced that it will have to slash the emergency food rations of a million Darfurians by 50%. There is a US$193m shortfall in contributions to its 2005 budget. Meanwhile, aid, reconstruction and development for Darfur have been explicitly excluded from the framework paper that provides the basis for discussions in Oslo.

The cut in rations to the internally displaced people of Darfur comes at a time when casualties due to armed violence, starvation and disease are estimated to be running at anything between 10,000 and 30,000 per month. From the start of the rainy season in July, at least 500,000 more will become dependent on food aid. Continuing insecurity threatens to push numbers higher still. And due to the absence of peace enforcement, approximately 600,000 internally displaced are cut off even from the reach of the WFP’s limited supplies; an increase of 200,000 since February.

‘Janjaweed’ Arab militia, backed by Sudanese Government forces, continue to rape, burn and kill Africans at will. Thursday 7 April saw the worst single attack since the sacking of Hamada in January. Over 350 armed militiamen burned the homes and slaughtered the inhabitants of the South Darfur village of Khor Abeche in a day-long rampage that left the United Nations and the African Union in a state of “utter shock and disbelief”, according to a joint statement issued by UN envoy Jan Pronk and AU envoy Baba Gana Kingibe.

“We recognise that development needs to happen in north and south Sudan because it’s essential to the country’s stability, but it is reprehensible that donors meet to talk about this reconstruction as if people aren’t under threat in the rest of the country,” says Dr James Smith, Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust, which coordinates the ‘Protect Darfur’ campaign. “It’s morally wrong to ignore the victims of the crisis in Darfur, while providing billions in reconstruction aid to Sudan. It should not be given unless protection and relief are provided for Darfur’s African population.

“While UN peacekeepers for southern Sudan – now at peace – benefit from a Chapter VII mandate, the AU mission in conflict-ridden Darfur has not been given the authority it needs from the UN Security Council to ensure protection of civilians. Its size is also wholly inadequate. It is time for the UN Security Council to shoulder as much responsibility as the African Union.”

“Currently the AU force is allowed to protect civilians,” says Captain Brian Steidle, a former US Marine who has just returned from six months as technical advisor to the AU Mission in Darfur. “They shouldn’t just be allowed to protect them. It should be their job.”

ENDS

For more information, contact David Brown, Communications Officer, Protect Darfur Campaign, Mobile: +44 (0)7812 640873, email: [email protected]