UN extends Darfur peace mission

The United Nations Security Council has voted to extend the UN mission in Sudan for one week as the council tries to work out an agreement on a peacekeeping operation and how to stop the bloodshed in Darfur.

UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has asked the council to authorise a 10,000-strong peace force to help stabilise Africa's largest nation after the government and rebels ended a 21-year civil war in January.

But the 15-nation council has been at odds for weeks over questions relating to the separate conflict in Sudan's troubled western Darfur region, where an independent commission found crimes against humanity were likely committed.

The United States has been unable to drum up wide support for targeted sanctions against those responsible for those crimes -- or for its opposition to referring the matter to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

"I think that the council is united in its belief that the peacekeeping operation needs to be deployed immediately, and that we can't wait any longer," US envoy Stuart Holliday said after a council meeting.

He acknowledged there was no consensus on the array of US proposals but said he expected the council to vote next week.

Earlier this week the UN's emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, said that the death toll in Darfur was perhaps three to five times higher than the estimate of 70,000 dead that emerged late last year.

After rebels in Darfur rose up against Sudan's Arab-led government, Khartoum turned to proxy militias to help put down the rebellion -- and those militias have been blamed for a scorched-earth campaign of murder, rape and pillaging.

By In Solidarity 11 March 05

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Sudan talks end in deadlock

Darfur rebels and the Sudanese Government have ended peace talks in Nigeria in a deadlock on how to address what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Over 1 million people have fled their homes in the arid western region, which is roughly the size of France, since the conflict started 18 months ago.

"There is a big distance between what we think about improving the humanitarian situation in the camps and what the Government thinks," said Ahmed Mohammed Tugod, negotiator for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel group.

Rebels and the Sudanese delegation presented their separate analyses of the humanitarian situation to African Union (AU) mediators in the Nigerian capital Abuja, a day before a UN August 30 deadline asking Sudan to address the crisis or face sanctions.

The African Union will offer a draft presentation to try to harmonise the rebels' and Government's positions.
The talks aim to find a political solution to the conflict, which has its origins in land disputes between mostly African farmers and Arab herdsmen.

Both Darfur rebel groups had staged a 24-hour boycott of the talks accusing the Government of killing 75 civilians in Darfur since Thursday and saying Khartoum was deliberately fuelling the humanitarian crisis. The rebels accuse pro-government Arab Janjaweed militia of mass killings and rapes. An AU cease-fire committee has begun investigations into their allegations.

By In Solidarity 30 August 04

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Top UN official concerned about 'lack of progress' in Darfur

The top UN official in Sudan has expressed concern about a "lack of progress on the ground" in reining in marauding Arab militias in Sudan's western Darfur region, the United Nations said.

The remarks by Jan Pronk were released in New York about two weeks before a Security Council deadline for Sudan to demonstrate that it is serious about improving the security situation in Darfur or face unspecified sanctions.

Mr Pronk is UN secretary-general Kofi Annan's special representative for Sudan.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail told reporters in the capital Khartoum that the Government had designated safe areas in Darfur, including the capitals of each of Darfur's three states - Nyala, el-Fasher and Geneina - and the surrounding areas. The towns of Sani, Deleiva and Abu, along with the area of Ajouraha in South Darfur state and the area of Mornei in West Darfur state were also designated safe areas, which the Government has pledged to secure by the end of August.

"We have identified these areas and implementation will begin tomorrow," said Mr Ismail, adding that monitors deployed by the African Union would be asked to head to those areas.

The UN statement said Mr Pronk "welcomed the steps being taken by the Government and indicated the crucial phase will be the one when it could be demonstrated that these actions have borne fruit on the ground, when substantial, verifiable and substantial improvement of the security situation in the selected areas will be achieved". "He (Mr Pronk) expressed concern about the lack of progress registered so far on the ground and at the fact that the Janjaweed militia was still active around the IDP camps and continued to be a threat," the statement said, referring to camps for the so-called internally displaced persons driven from their homes by the conflict in Darfur.

Rights groups and the rebels accuse Khartoum of arming Arab militias known as the Janjaweed -- a term derived from the Arabic for "devils on horseback" -- to loot and burn African farming villages as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

The Sudanese Government denies the charge and says the Janjaweed are outlaws.

The United Nations calls Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and says 50,000 people have been killed and at least 1 million more driven from their homes since two rebel groups took up arms against the Government in February 2003.

In the UN statement, Mr Pronk also complained that UN staff and relief workers had been barred from Kalma camp, east of the South Darfur state capital Nyala, since camp residents beat and stabbed to death on Friday a man they accused of being a Janjaweed fighter. Mr Pronk was "very concerned" that aid workers had been denied access to the camp, whose residents, including malnourished children, required daily assistance, the statement said. Mr Pronk had raised the issue with the Sudanese authorities and "hopes that full access to the camp will be granted as soon as possible", the statement said.

In Solidarity 16 August 04

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Sudan launches fresh helicopter attacks in Darfur: UN

Sudan has carried out fresh helicopter attacks in Darfur, worsening an already desperate humanitarian situation, while Arab militia targeted refugees trying to escape the conflict, the United Nations said.

"Fresh violence today (Tuesday) included helicopter gunship bombings by the Sudanese government and Janjaweed attacks in South Darfur. The violence has already led to more displacement," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement from Geneva.

"Janjaweed attacks on internally displaced persons in and around IDP settlements continue to be reported in all three Darfur states," it added.

Civilians have previously said Sudan used helicopters and other military aircraft to attack villages in Darfur, but there have been fewer reports of such attacks since rebels and the Government signed a cease-fire in April.

Under a joint plan agreed with the United Nations last week, Sudan said it would establish safe areas for the displaced and cease military operations by its troops and rebels there.

Despite recent pledges to cooperate to end the humanitarian crisis the UN has called the worst in the world, the UN said the Sudanese Government has hampered access to hungry Darfuris by restricting relief flights and causing "major delays" in deployment of aid workers.

The world body also said Sudanese authorities were pressuring traumatised refugees to return to unsafe villages.

"We have interviewed people in hospital who tell us they have gone back to the villages, believing the government commitment, and have been shot by Janjaweed raiders," said United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Peter Kessler in Geneva.

"We can't tell if people are being led into a trap - we would hope not," he added.

By In Solidarity 11 August 04

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African Union may send 2,000 militants to Darfur

The African Union (AU) may boost the number of troops, [militants], deployed to Sudan's troubled Darfur region to 2,000, subject to the move gaining approval at a meeting of its members, a spokesman said.

"The AU plans to increase troop, [militant], strength of its protection force for Darfur from 300 to 2,000, with Nigeria and Rwanda offering to send 1,000 troops each," AU spokesman Adam Thiam said.

He said the proposal needed the approval of the AU's 15-member security body, the Peace and Security Council, which would also look at broadening the original mandate of the AU force to include a peacekeeping role as well as protecting truce monitors in Darfur.

It was not immediately clear when the Council, whose, [alleged], principal aim is to "promote peace, security and stability in Africa", would meet, but Mr Thiam said troop deployment was expected to begin this week.

The United Nations says the world's worst humanitarian crisis is unfolding in western Sudan, where fighting between rebels and Janjaweed militia has killed at least 30,000 people and uprooted 1 million, who have sought refuge in barren camps.

The Netherlands said on Tuesday it would fund a mission to fly 360 AU troops to Darfur.

The UN Security Council has given Khartoum 30 days to disarm and prosecute the Janjaweed, drawn from the nomadic Arab population, or face sanctions.

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Sudan rejects UN resolution deadline

Sudan has condemned a 30 day deadline set by the United Nations Security Council for action on Darfur, but has said it would implement a 90 day program as agreed earlier with UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.

In a resolution passed on Friday, the Security Council demanded the Sudanese Government take action within 30 days to disarm Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, blamed for creating a humanitarian crisis in the western region. If Sudan fails to satisfy the council, the United Nations said it intends to consider economic and diplomatic sanctions.

Sudan has given a mixed response to the resolution and the cabinet met on Sunday to take a formal position.

"The council of ministers condemned the time period and views it to be illogical and difficult to implement, especially since the agreement we reached with the United Nations gave a 90 day implementation period," Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters after the meeting. "Sudan will commit to implement the agreement that it signed on July 3 with Kofi Annan and will commit to the joint implementation mechanism which was set up to monitor this agreement," the minister added.

The agreement with Mr Annan included a Sudanese Government commitment to disarm the Janjaweed militias and accept human rights monitors in Darfur, where conflict has displaced more than 1 million people.

Mr Ismail said UN and Sudanese officials would meet on Monday. An assistant administrator with the United States Agency for International Development, Roger Winter, said in addition to the 30,000 people who have been killed in the Darfur violence, as many as 50,000 more may have died from hunger and disease.

"That number will start to jet up a good bit over the next few months and then it will start to tail off because a lot of the most vulnerable people ... will have died by then," he said last week in Washington after returning from Sudan.

Sudan says it has already started to crack down on the militias, who have been attacking African villages, looting, raping, burning houses and driving the people off the land.

Villagers have taken refuge in camps in Darfur or across the border in Chad.

By In Solidarity 2 August 04

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African Union considers Sudan peacekeeping mission

Intervention considered: The African Union says the Sudanese Government has failed to stop the bloodshed.

The African Union has announced it is preparing plans to send a peacekeeping force to the troubled Darfur region of Sudan. The union has strongly criticised the Sudanese Government for failing to stop the bloodshed, which has killed more than 30,000 people.

Union delegates meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Adaba, have decided to prepare plans for the mission.

However, no final decision has been made. The African Union is calling on the Sudanese Government stop Arab militias known as the Janjaweed from terrorising civilians.

More than 1 million people have been forced from their homes during the unrest. Aid organisations are struggling to deal with the situation in Darfur, which the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

By Sally Sara 29 July 04

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A malnourished Sudanese refugee child lies at a feeding centre in Iriba Town in Chad. The World Health Organisation has warned a major health catastrophe could erupt in western Sudan's Darfur region if the needed funds, personnel and supplies were not made available.

Sudan decrees end to relief restrictions
The Sudanese Government, under international pressure to help displaced people in the western region of Darfur, has ordered an end to restrictions on the movement of relief organisations and imports of relief supplies.

Sudan urged to take urgent action to protect refugees
The UN is urging the Sudanese Government to take urgent action to protect more than 1 million refugees.

Terrorism obscuring world crises, Sir William says
The former governor-general, Sir William Deane, has advised Australians not to lose perspective about international crises during the ongoing focus on terrorism.