05/27/2005

Read more about Refugees International's work in Darfur.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan arrived in Khartoum today to campaign for progress in peace talks to end the fighting in Darfur, stronger support for the African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur and the need for continued humanitarian aid to Sudan, which has the world’s largest population of displaced people.

“Mr. Annan’s trip offers a real opportunity to generate better security in Darfur, where more than two million people have been driven from their homes during a civil war that has featured attacks against civilians by government backed militias,” said Ken Bacon, the president of Refugees International.  Bacon is one of three representatives of humanitarian agencies traveling with the UN leader in Sudan.  The heads of the International Rescue Committee and Concern Worldwide are also traveling with Mr. Annan.

Mr. Annan arrived in Khartoum from a meeting with the African Union in Addis Ababa, where donors pledged more money and logistical support to help the AU force expand in Darfur.  The North Atlantic Treaty Organization said that it would provide transportation, communications and logistical support, but no troops on the ground.  Still, this is an important step up in involvement by the West.  The AU force is short of helicopters and other equipment that NATO can provide.  

The AU hopes to increase its force to 7,700 by August and boost it to about 12,000 a year later.  However, RI and many other humanitarian agencies want a faster increase in the force.  NATO support will be crucial to helping the force expand.

On Saturday, Mr. Annan will visit a huge camp for internally displaced people in Nyala.  He will also visit Labado, a town north of Nyala and the scene of one of the worst massacres by government backed militia forces since the Darfur civil war began in February 2003.  Since that attack, Labado had become a success story for the AU peacekeepers.  After they deployed to protect the town from a second attack, about 10,000 people, or approximately 25% of the pre-attack population, have returned.  Thus, Labado has come to symbolize the importance AU protection. However, the force is simply too small to protect enough villages to allow significant returns.  

The need to expand the force is urgent.  An estimated 400,000 people have died of war-related causes, including starvation, disease and exposure, since fighting broke out in February of 2003.  President Bush has called the well-organized attacks by militia groups backed by government forces genocide.  The attackers are largely Arabs and the victims are largely African farmers.

A trip to Darfur by Mr. Annan last summer helped focus world attention on the violence and pressure the government of Sudan to reduce restrictions on humanitarian access.  While the provision of adequate food and other supplies remains a problem, a bigger challenge is to find a way to end the fighting.  So far efforts to engage the government and several rebel groups in effective peace talks have failed.

Mr. Annan will also visit Rumbek, the current capital of south Sudan.  After 21 years of fighting, the government and rebels in the south signed a peace agreement in January.  The UN is in the process of mobilizing a large peacekeeping force to maintain the peace in the south, while leading a major development effort of the war-torn area.

Fueled by growing oil exports, Sudan’s economy is booming, but the wealth seems to be going to capital rather than to people in need in Darfur and south Sudan.  Civil wars have left some six million people dependent on international food aid.  In the last few days, both the World Food Program and the International Committee for the Red Cross have warned of food shortages.  “We have to fight so many obstacles to reach people who need food in Africa’s largest country,” a WFP official said earlier this week.  “Logistics, insecurity, banditry, and sadly above all low levels of donor funding—all of these combine to impede our work” in Darfur, the official said.