08/11/2006

The following letter is in response to a fax received from the Sudanese embassy on behalf of Dr. Magzoub El Khalifa, Adviser to the President of the Government of Sudan. Click here to read Dr. El Khalifa's fax.

• At a press conference in Khartoum on Aug. 9, Jan Pronk, the head of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), reported that the number of armed clashes in Darfur in the first seven months of 2006 was double the number in the same period last year and the number of displaced people had risen by 40,000. “They only needed a couple of months to make peace in a document,” Mr. Pronk said. “But that period has been used by the parties by attacking each other more, by attacking the people more, by attacking international agencies more and by attacking the African Union more.”
• On Aug. 7, the United Nations reported that more humanitarian workers had died in Darfur in the previous two weeks than in the previous two years.
• On Aug. 1, Ambassador Kingibe of the African Union (AU), accused the Minni Minawi faction of the Sudan Liberation Army, the only rebel group to sign the DPA, of torture.
• On July 28, Mr. Pronk and Ambassador Kingibe issued a joint statement expressing concern about attacks by forces Government of Sudan, which has signed the DPA, and the Janjaweed militia against rebel groups in the Jebel Moon area of West Darfur.
• In late July UNMIS reported that increased violence in Darfur was hampering the delivery of humanitarian aid to the point where the relief was reaching less than 80% of needy recipients, the lowest level since 2004.
• In early and mid July UNMIS and AU officials reported many attacks by SLA/Minawi forces, and newly arrived displaced people in Tawilla and El Fasher told Refugees International that they were fleeing attacks against their villages by SLA/Minawi forces.
• Earlier this month the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNMIS issued a report that said: “Post-DPA violence resulted in numerous civilian deaths and aggravated the already severe humanitarian situation in Darfur. During May and June, at least 20 incidents were reported to have occurred; these mainly consisted of attacks on villages by armed militias (supported on at least one occasion by government forces), clashes between militias and the SLA and intra-SLA fighting.” The report noted accounts of torture and rape.