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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
SUDAN: UN envoy blames rebels for continuing insecurity in Darfur
NAIROBI, 29 Oct 2004 (IRIN) - The situation in the strife-ridden, western Sudanese region of Darfur has not improved during the past month, according to the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk.
"Darfur remains grim and humanitarian access is limited," Pronk told reporters in Khartoum on Thursday ahead of his visit to New York to report on the Darfur conflict to the Security Council.
Two rebel groups - the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - are responsible for much of the recent violence in Darfur, he said.
The humanitarian situation is also deteriorating, the spokeswoman for the UN Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS), Radhia Achouri, told IRIN on 21 October.
"The repeated ceasefire violations of the past month have had a very serious impact on the UN's ability to deliver humanitarian assistance to affected populations," she said.
Humanitarian agencies have had to limit operations in North Darfur State. Following hijackings in the area, UN security has declared the area too dangerous for the transport of aid supplies.
UN News reported that forces from the SLA hijacked seven commercial trucks on Saturday, about 120 km east of the state capital, Al Fashir.
For their part, the SLA claimed that the Sudanese air force had been violating the ceasefire by conducting bombing raids on Tuesday and Thursday in Allaiat, a town in eastern Darfur, killing 26 civilians.
The deputy spokesperson for UNAMIS, George Somerwill, told IRIN on Friday that he was aware of the SLA's allegations, but that the aerial bombardments had not yet been officially confirmed.
The Sudanese government agreed in July to take steps to disarm the Janjawid militias, who are considered responsible for the majority of attacks against civilians in Darfur.
Pronk will present a monthly report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Security Council early next week, on what Khartoum is doing to meet its pledges.
A Goodwill Ambassador for the Office of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Angelina Jolie, told reporters at a press conference in Khartoum on Wednesday that conditions were too dangerous for the region's vast population of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to their homes, UN News reported.
On Thursday, a contingent of 50 Nigerian soldiers arrived in Darfur aboard a US military plane. They are the first reinforcements for the 390-member African Union (AU) mission in Darfur. The mission is to be expanded to 3,320 people by the end of November.
Human rights groups have called for the AU to protect IDPs, but the soldiers' mandate is limited to protecting ceasefire monitors and safeguarding civilians only if they are under imminent threat.
The Nigerian troops arrived in Darfur as peace talks in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, continued into a fourth day with little progress. The two Sudanese rebel groups are refusing to sign a humanitarian accord that would guarantee aid workers access to refugees, insisting that the accord be signed along with a security pact that would disarm the Janjawid.
More than 1.45 million people in Darfur are internally displaced and another 200,000 live as refugees in Chad.
An estimated 70,000 people have died through disease and malnutrition since March, according to the UN. There are no reliable figures on how many people have killed in the fighting.
[ENDS]
This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004
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