UN estimate of Darfur deaths soars to 180,000

More than 180,000 people have died in Sudan's conflict stricken Darfur region over the past 18 months, UN humanitarian affairs chief Jan Egeland says. The United Nations had previously estimated about 70,000 dead from the fighting, disease and malnutrition linked to the Darfur conflict.

The growing toll was announced as the United Nations struggles to find ways to end the violence in the western Sudanese region where almost two million people have been displaced.

"It has been at least 10,000, on average, of preventable deaths since the emergency became a big emergency, which was towards the end of 2003," the UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs said.

If you say for the last 18 months, 10,000 a month, that's 180,000. It could be just as well more than 200,000 but I think 10,000 a month is a reasonable figure," Mr Egeland said.

He says the toll does not included those killed in the fighting between the local black population and government-backed militias. Mr Egeland last week said the 70,000 figure was obsolete.

The UN official says the toll has improved in recent months.

"Mortality has decreased in recent months because of effective relief work," he said.

More camps have been built and other international relief efforts have been stepped up over the past year. Mr Egeland said the violence was continuing in Darfur outside of refugee camps and that unless stabilisation efforts were increased the number of people forced out of their homes could rise to three or four million.

By In Solidarity 15 March 05

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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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UN relief boss warns Sudanese rebels

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The rebels began their uprising in 2003, claiming that the west of Sudan had been neglected by the central government.

Darfur has since descended into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with tens of thousands killed by ethnic violence and starvation.

After his talks with rebel commanders, Mr Egeland issued them a stern warning.

"If you continue attacking trucks and police stations, if you do not release other colleagues, and the vehicles that are humanitarians', you will lose all international sympathy and all international trust," he said.

By In Solidarity 7 March 05

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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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Annan urges more aid for Sudan

In need of aid: Kofi Annan says western nations have been tight-fisted.

UN secretary-general Kofi Annan is pressing governments for more aid for the troubled Darfur region, as the Security Council considers threatening the Sudanese Government with sanctions over its role in the humanitarian crisis in the region.

Mr Annan has written to the leaders of 11 key European, Asian and Gulf nations.

He says nations have so far been too tight-fisted in addressing the situation in Darfur, where Arab militias have killed tens of thousands of African villagers and driven more than 1 million more from their homes.

A UN emergency appeal in March requested $US349 million in aid for the western Sudanese region.

UN officials say so far, less than half of that has been donated, with 70 per cent of that coming from just four donors - the United States, the Netherlands, Britain and the European Commission.

On Tuesday, the United States toughened its draft resolution to threaten unspecified sanctions against the Sudanese Government in 30 days if it failed to fulfil its commitments to disarm the Arab militias and give relief workers full access to the region.

UN, US and European Union officials blame the armed groups, known as Janjaweed militias, for murder, rape and pillaging in Darfur.

The Sudanese Government is accused of backing the Janjaweed.

Sudan denies this and protests outsiders meddling in its affairs.

US envoy Stuart Holliday told Security Council members on Tuesday to expect a vote either Thursday or Friday on the draft after a final round of talks on Wednesday afternoon.

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By In Solidarity 29 July 04

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Sudan vows to resist Darfur intervention

A crowd of boys welcomes the arrival of a convoy of Red Cross trucks carrying food and supplies to a camp between Chad and Sudan.

The Sudanese Cabinet has put all government institutions on alert after vowing to face down any foreign intervention in the Darfur crisis.

Ministers have ordered the "political and strategic mobilisation of all government institutions", Agriculture Minister Majzub Al Khalifa Ahmed said after an emergency cabinet meeting.

Mr Ahmed says ministers also decided to "strongly resist all [UN Security Council] resolutions calling for despatching international forces to Darfur".

"The Government will from now on harden its attitude in rejection of any foreign intervention in Darfur and will notify the international community of this position," he said.

"The Government will appropriately deal with any soldier who sets foot on Sudanese territory."

Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail later re-iterated that Khartoum was prepared to face down any foreign intervention in Darfur, by force if necessary.

"We are not looking for confrontation and we hope that we will not be pushed to that," Mr Ismail told reporters in Ankara.

"But if we are being forced to do so, if we are being attacked, definitely we are not going to sit silent. We will retaliate or we will hit back."

Premature

At the same time, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell said it was too soon to talk of military intervention in Darfur.

Speaking to reporters on his way to Egypt, Mr Powell called such talk "premature", adding that he believed the Sudanese Government still had the ability to take action to bring the violence there under control.

Australia and Britain have both expressed readiness to commit troops to an international intervention force in Darfur.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on the weekend that there was a "good chance" Australia would send "a small number" of troops to Darfur as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force.

The US is looking to introduce a new resolution on Darfur in the UN Security Council later today.

By In Solidarity 27 July 04

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Annan, African leaders to hold Sudan talks

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan will hold talks with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and other African leaders on peace initiatives in Sudan and Ivory Coast on Thursday, a Nigerian spokeswoman said.

Mr Obasanjo organised the talks in the Ghanaian capital Accra in his capacity as chairman of the African Union (AU), his spokeswoman Remi Oyo said.

"A meeting has been scheduled in Accra on Thursday this week, to be attended by UN Secretary-General and some African leaders including President Obasanjo, to discuss some peace initiatives in Sudan and Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)," Ms Oyo told journalists in the Nigerian capital.

Mr Obasanjo has also sent former Nigerian president Abdulsalam Abubakar as his peace envoy to Sudan and Chad.

Fighting in Sudan's western Darfur region has uprooted more than one million people, many of them fleeing to neighbouring Chad.

The AU had been hoping to send 270 troops to protect 60 AU cease-fire observers in Sudan's Darfur region by the end of July, but the plan has been dogged by confusion over their exact role.

Diplomats worry about the possibility of clashes between an AU force and troops of member state Sudan.

Nigeria itself has prepared 120 troops for the mission.

Darfur rebels walked out of peace talks earlier this month after Khartoum rejected its preconditions for talks, including the disarmament of pro-government Janjaweed militia.

The Accra talks will also offer Ivory Coast rebels a chance to sit down with the Government to defuse a crisis that has already killed thousands and left more than a million displaced in two years.

By In Solidarity 27 July 04

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Sudan warns against foreign intervention

Sudan has warned it will use force against any attempt at outside military intervention in the crisis-torn Darfur region, while rebels called for the quick arrival of foreign troops.

Ibrahim Ahmed Omar, secretary-general of the ruling National Congress (NC) party, was quoted by the official newspaper Al Anbaa as warning that force would be met by force.

"Anybody who contemplates imposing his opinion by force will be confronted by force. Any power that intervenes in Darfur will be a loser, he said."

But a Darfur rebel movement called for a rapid deployment of international troops to deal with the situation in the western Sudanese region, described by the United Nations as the world's worst current humanitarian crisis.

The US Congress has unanimously passed a resolution last week describing the atrocities committed in Darfur as genocide and called on the White House to lead international efforts to intervene.

A top British general said 5,000 troops could be made ready to go if needed.

The UN says up to 50,000 people have died since a revolt against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum broke out among black African ethnic minorities in February 2003.

"The National Congress firmly rejects any foreign threats targeting Sudan and its people and is opposed to any foreign intervention in Sudan," Mr Omar was quoted as saying, adding that Sudan is capable of solving its problems by itself.

The official called for general mobilisation among the Sudanese people and political parties and organisations to "stand up against this unfair campaign which targets not only the National Congress and the government but all of the Sudanese people and their values."

Khartoum has brushed off criticism that it is not doing enough to help alleviate the situation in Darfur and pledged to improve the access of international aid agencies.

But Abdel Wahed Mohammed Nur, spokesman for the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) said: "We are asking the United States, the United Nations secretary-general, the European Union and the African Union for the urgent deployment of troops in the coming days to ensure the delivery of food aid to millions of refugees."

Contacted by telephone, the spokesman said intervention would "avert a humanitarian disaster of great proportions".

Mr Nur charged that the pro-Government Arab Janjaweed militias were "preventing the arrival of food aid to displaced people and continue to violate the ceasefire, and they regularly rape defenceless women."

More than a million people have been driven from their villages in the conflict pitting government forces and Janjaweed against the SLA and another local rebel group, the Movement for Justice and Equality.

Washington, the United Nations and the EU have demanded that Khartoum immediately disarm the Janjaweed and make them respect a ceasefire signed April 8 after talks in the Chadian capital Ndjamena.

The European Union warned at the weekend that Sudan would face international sanctions if there was not quick progress in ending the bloodshed.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail on Sunday questioned the need for foreign troops in war-torn Darfur, saying his Government was doing all it could to disarm Arab militias.

"Why should we have to rush and to talk about military intervention as long as the situation is getting better?" Mr Ismail told BBC television. My Government is doing what can be done in order to disarm the militia."

Meanwhile the United Nations in neighbouring Chad said two Sudanese refugees from Darfur were shot dead in clashes with local security forces amid rising tensions with aid workers. A spokesman for the refugee agency UNHCR said that weapons caches had been found at the Abeche camp and 19 people had been arrested.

The fatal clashes on Thursday came 10 days after UN and other aid workers were forced to leave the camp of Forchana accommodating nearly 12,000 people in the east of Chad when refugees started throwing stones at them.

By In Solidarity 26 July 04

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