UN agencies and humanitarian groups are warning that the security situation in the conflict-ridden Darfur region of Sudan is deteriorating amid reports that government forces may be forcing displaced people (DP) to return to their homes.
The new alarm was triggered by the government’s closure to relief groups Tuesday of several camps in western and southern Darfur, reportedly to move a number of people to an unknown destination. The moves followed an earlier decision by aid agencies to evacuate workers from two camps where violence had broken out over the last several days.
The government said it had been invited into the camps by clan leaders who had complained that local people had infiltrated them in order to obtain relief supplies. But UN workers were not buying that explanation.
"This is in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, and of the [UN’s] agreements reached with the government," protested Jan Pronk, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s chief envoy to Sudan.
"The government had told these IDPs [internally displaced persons] that this was happening in close consultation with the UN and with non-governmental organizations, which is not the case," he told BBC.
The closure of the camps came as Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) released a report asserting that violence against civilians, mainly perpetrated by Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, has not abated over the last several months despite the international attention that has been focused on Darfur.
"Over a year after their escape from their villages and after countless promises from the Government of Sudan and world leaders," the report stated, "people’s lives are still daily under threat."
"So much talking, so much attention, but so little is changing on the ground with regards to security for civilians," said MSF’s emergency coordinator, Ton Koene. "The world has to remind itself the violence and suffering have still not ended."
Based on a survey of some 66,000 IDPs in southern Darfur MSF completed five weeks ago, the organization, which is providing assistance to nearly 800,000 of the nearly 2 million people who have been displaced by the violence in Sudan, found that violence was the cause of nearly 80 percent of the reported deaths of those aged 18-49 years.
"Neither the international community nor the government of Sudan have taken effective measures to ensure the cessation of violence against civilians," the report said. "Nor have they provided adequate aid and assistance."
The UN last month estimated that at least 70,000 Darfurians, the vast majority of them members of African ethnic groups, have lost their lives as a result of attacks by the Janjaweed and government forces since the latter launched a brutal, scorched-earth counter-insurgency campaign some 19 months ago. Much of the African population has been displaced by the attacks, including more than 200,000 people who fled into neighboring Chad.
The camps where most of the IDPs are living – both in Darfur and in Chad – are generally overcrowded and lack adequate sanitation facilities despite major efforts by the UN and relief agencies. In addition, the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) estimates that about 160,000 people are beyond the reach of aid workers.
Last month, the World Health Organization estimated that about 10,000 IDPs were dying each month.
In July, the U.S. Congress approved a resolution that the situation is a "genocide" against the African tribes in Darfur, a label that was endorsed by Secretary of State Colin Powell in September. Despite those findings, the U.S. has not succeeded in persuading the UN Security Council to do more than threaten to impose economic and diplomatic sanctions against the government if the situation does not improve.
Khartoum and two Darfurian rebel groups negotiated a ceasefire in the region late last summer, but both sides reportedly broke its terms. They have resumed negotiations in Nigeria where both sides reported a tentative agreement Tuesday on creating a "no-fly zone" over the region.
Meanwhile, the UN has authorized the dispatch of some 3,500 African Union (AU) troops and police to Darfur, but only about 300 have been sent to date. They are supposed to provide security for AU cease-fire monitors.
In the last week, Khartoum announced that some 70,000 IDPs have been returned to their homes, but most analysts, including Pronk, have questioned whether those returns were voluntary, as required under international law.
When interviewed by aid workers, IDPs in Darfur and Chad have said they did not want to return because of the persistent insecurity and the likelihood that they would be subject to renewed attacks by the Janjaweed.
In addition, the government has not rebuilt their homes or provided seeds, tools, or livestock to restore their livelihoods, according to relief officials.
(OneWorld)
