Darfur Needs Help Now, notes Israel Rafalovich
In order to prevent a new round of killings in Darfur, in Sudan, a search for a diplomatic deal is underway.
While Sudan masses troops for a new offensive against rebels, diplomats are working feverishly on a plan to keep the African Union force in Darfur and to avert another large scale murder, should the 7,000 African Union troops withdraw from Darfur when their mandate ends on September 30.
In August, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution that would give the United Nations control over a peacekeeping operation in Darfur, to replace the African Union troops which have been mostly ineffective because of a lack of funding.
The government in Khartoum insists that the African Union troops can stay but only under the condition that they reject a British plan which was adopted in August by the U.N. to replace the African Union troops with 22,600 U.N. forces by the end of 2006.
As the clock is ticking, more voices are raised in favor of the U.N. sending forces.
The French government has raised the idea of sending in U.N. troops to Darfur, even if the Sudanese government objects.
The African Union troops are all that stands in the way for a large scale war.
Human Rights Watch, a New York-based organisation accused the Sudanese government of resuming its indiscriminate attacks against civilians. The group said, citing first hand sources, that flight crews were rolling bombs out the back ramp of airplanes, a common practice by Sudanese government troops in the war with rebels in Southern Sudan.
After the death of 12 aid workers, aid agencies have scaled back their operations, because of less access to the needy than before.
At least 200,000 people have died and more than two million have been displaced since the conflict began in 2003.
On the Seventeenth of September, thousands of people rallied in cities around the globe to protest the violence and urge world leaders to intervene to resolve the problem.
The European Union has also called to do more in order to stop the violence in Darfur. The E.U. has provided 340 million Euros of humanitarian and food aid in Darfur, as well as 242 million Euro support for the African Union troops there.
Eye-witnesses said that the violence has worsened since a peace deal was signed between the government and one rebel faction.
The Sudanese government puts the blame on the continued abuses of the rebel groups that did not sign the agreement in May.
Under the illusion that it will be able to force a military solution, the Khartoum government is sending reinforcements into Darfur.
In her address to the new U.N. Human Rights Council, in Geneva, Ms. Louise Arbour, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that large-scale human rights violations in Darfur were being perpetrated by Sudanese forces and their militias, as well as by rebel groups.
Western diplomats in New York have said in telephone interviews that the pressure must be increased by making real the threats of United Nation sanctions against Sudanese government figures and that the West must overcome the lack of political will for a more forceful action against Khartoum.
Informed sources in Brussels said that the government in Khartoum is fearful that U.N. forces would start hunting for senior Sudanese officials to face war crimes allegations at the International Criminal Court.
Voices are now raised in New York, calling upon the U.N. to enforce steps it has taken against the Sudanese government, among them, targeted sanctions that the Security Council has already approved.
The only way, in the long run, to protect the tribes in Darfur, say European diplomats, will be to establish an autonomous enclave under the protectorate of U.N. troops, as was done with the Kurds in Iraq.
This is also the wish of the Sudanese tribes which led to the current war - to gain self-rule - an idea the Sudanese government will not accept without a fight.
A military solution in Sudan will require huge financial support, as well as lives.
Israel Rafalovich
irafalovich@gmx.net
Please also see:
Sudan:
UN envoy calls on all sides to resume talks and refrain from violence in Ramadan
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=20015&Cr=sudan&Cr1=
Sudan: Extension of AU peacekeeping mission only first step
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR540562006
Global activism on the Day for Darfur!
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/sdn-index-eng
Darfur: Indiscriminate Bombing Warrants U.N. Sanctions
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/09/06/sudan14138.htm
17 September - Global Day for Darfur!
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=2609&blz=1
In order to prevent a new round of killings in Darfur, in Sudan, a search for a diplomatic deal is underway.
While Sudan masses troops for a new offensive against rebels, diplomats are working feverishly on a plan to keep the African Union force in Darfur and to avert another large scale murder, should the 7,000 African Union troops withdraw from Darfur when their mandate ends on September 30.
In August, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution that would give the United Nations control over a peacekeeping operation in Darfur, to replace the African Union troops which have been mostly ineffective because of a lack of funding.
The government in Khartoum insists that the African Union troops can stay but only under the condition that they reject a British plan which was adopted in August by the U.N. to replace the African Union troops with 22,600 U.N. forces by the end of 2006.
As the clock is ticking, more voices are raised in favor of the U.N. sending forces.
The French government has raised the idea of sending in U.N. troops to Darfur, even if the Sudanese government objects.
The African Union troops are all that stands in the way for a large scale war.
Human Rights Watch, a New York-based organisation accused the Sudanese government of resuming its indiscriminate attacks against civilians. The group said, citing first hand sources, that flight crews were rolling bombs out the back ramp of airplanes, a common practice by Sudanese government troops in the war with rebels in Southern Sudan.
After the death of 12 aid workers, aid agencies have scaled back their operations, because of less access to the needy than before.
At least 200,000 people have died and more than two million have been displaced since the conflict began in 2003.
On the Seventeenth of September, thousands of people rallied in cities around the globe to protest the violence and urge world leaders to intervene to resolve the problem.
The European Union has also called to do more in order to stop the violence in Darfur. The E.U. has provided 340 million Euros of humanitarian and food aid in Darfur, as well as 242 million Euro support for the African Union troops there.
Eye-witnesses said that the violence has worsened since a peace deal was signed between the government and one rebel faction.
The Sudanese government puts the blame on the continued abuses of the rebel groups that did not sign the agreement in May.
Under the illusion that it will be able to force a military solution, the Khartoum government is sending reinforcements into Darfur.
In her address to the new U.N. Human Rights Council, in Geneva, Ms. Louise Arbour, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that large-scale human rights violations in Darfur were being perpetrated by Sudanese forces and their militias, as well as by rebel groups.
Western diplomats in New York have said in telephone interviews that the pressure must be increased by making real the threats of United Nation sanctions against Sudanese government figures and that the West must overcome the lack of political will for a more forceful action against Khartoum.
Informed sources in Brussels said that the government in Khartoum is fearful that U.N. forces would start hunting for senior Sudanese officials to face war crimes allegations at the International Criminal Court.
Voices are now raised in New York, calling upon the U.N. to enforce steps it has taken against the Sudanese government, among them, targeted sanctions that the Security Council has already approved.
The only way, in the long run, to protect the tribes in Darfur, say European diplomats, will be to establish an autonomous enclave under the protectorate of U.N. troops, as was done with the Kurds in Iraq.
This is also the wish of the Sudanese tribes which led to the current war - to gain self-rule - an idea the Sudanese government will not accept without a fight.
A military solution in Sudan will require huge financial support, as well as lives.
Israel Rafalovich
irafalovich@gmx.net
Please also see:
Sudan:
UN envoy calls on all sides to resume talks and refrain from violence in Ramadan
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=20015&Cr=sudan&Cr1=
Sudan: Extension of AU peacekeeping mission only first step
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR540562006
Global activism on the Day for Darfur!
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/sdn-index-eng
Darfur: Indiscriminate Bombing Warrants U.N. Sanctions
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/09/06/sudan14138.htm
17 September - Global Day for Darfur!
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=2609&blz=1