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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
SUDAN: UN concerned over continuing violence in Darfur
NAIROBI, 13 Jan 2005 (IRIN) - The western Sudanese region of Darfur could experience more violence unless approaches are adopted to contain the volatile situation there, the UN special envoy to Sudan has warned.
Jan Pronk, the special representative for the UN Secretary-General for Sudan, told the Security Council in his monthly briefing that conflict was spreading outside Darfur, UN News reported on Tuesday.
The violence, he added, was affecting humanitarian work more frequently and more directly than bureaucratic restrictions ever did, "with fatal and tragic and consequences".
"Large quantities of arms have been carried into Darfur in defiance of the Security Council decision taken in July," Pronk said. "December saw a build-up of arms, attacks of positions, including air attacks, raids on small towns and villages, increased banditry [and] more looting."
Lauding the comprehensive peace agreement signed on Sunday between the Sudanese government and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), as "a milestone", Pronk said resolving the Darfur conflict should be the priority in 2005.
"It is hard to imagine that the peace dividend promised by the Nairobi agreement will be reaped without an end to the suffering in Darfur," UN News quoted Pronk while addressing the Security Council in New York. "International aid will not flow and, more importantly, in Sudan itself, the achievement will turn out to be vulnerable."
He warned that Sudanese government forces might be tempted to think the conclusion of the north-south peace accord would provide a brief window of immunity from international criticism on their actions in Darfur.
The rebel movements, in turn, could perceive the north-south agreement as a further indication of their marginalisation and choose to intensify their military activities to be taken seriously as a party in political talks.
"Both perceptions would be false, both reactions dangerous," Pronk noted. "Both have to be countered by pressure, reason and the offering of an alternative."
Suggesting ways to improve the situation in Darfur, Pronk urged the Sudanese government and the Darfur rebels to refrain from attacks and retaliations. He said both sides should withdraw behind well-defined lines as a means of beginning the demilitarisation of the region.
According to Pronk, while negotiations between the government and Darfur rebels should proceed, "it would be useful to start thinking of including tribal leaders in finding political solutions, even before reconciliation has taken place".
Pronk also recommended that both parties ensure that their combatants were well supplied with food and other survival needs to diminish the urge to loot and kill.
"As long as there is war in some part of the country, resources will be spent on weapons, not welfare," he noted.
He commended the African Union (AU) forces deployed in Darfur, saying they had "done more than any other outside agent to improve the security situation" and needed help from the international community to "accelerate the rate of deployment".
The Council had pledged on Monday to quickly consider sending peacekeepers to Sudan given that the government and the SPLM/A had signed an agreement to end Africa's longest civil war.
The Council's 15 members, in a statement, also called on world governments to help Sudan to implement the agreement. The members called for aid contributions that could help Sudan rebuild itself after 21 years of conflict in the south that has killed an estimated two million people.
The war in Darfur pits the Sudanese government troops and militias, allegedly allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end what they have called marginalisation and discrimination of the region's inhabitants by the state.
The conflict has displaced an estimated 1.8 million people and sent another 200,000 fleeing across the border into Chad. The UN has described the Darfur problem as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
The conflict in the south, which officially ended with the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement on 9 January, erupted in 1983 when the rebels took up arms against authorities based in the north to demand greater autonomy.
[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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