Sudan has done little to disarm Arab militia fighters in Darfur accused of killings, rape and uprooting of African villagers, U.N. officials told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.
Diplomats attending a closed-door council briefing on the western Darfur region of Sudan said the Khartoum government had taken several positive steps to deal with the crisis, which may have cost up to 50,000 lives, but residents do not yet feel safe.
Tuliameni Kalomoh, an assistant secretary-general for political affairs, told members that many villagers herded into camps feared violence if they left the compounds, where food and health care is scarce, the envoys reported.
“As of today, we have not been provided with evidence that initial steps to deal with militias have been taken, and a list of names and number of militias has not been prepared,” he was quoted as telling council members about the militia, known as the Janjaweed.
Underscoring how desperate the situation still is, the U.N. World Food Program began airdropping food in the west of the region and the International Committee of the Red Cross airlifted in hundreds of tons of equipment and medicines for those driven from their homes.
“He [Kalomoh] said that’s the main area of non-performance,” Stuart Holliday, the U.S. representative, told reporters. “The people are still dying, and they are still scared.”
But Pakistan’s U.N. ambassador, Munir Akram, said: “I think it’s a mixed bag. Some Janjaweed have been identified. but it was recognized that disarmament of the Janjaweed will take a long time and not 30 days — a much longer time.”
The Security Council, which had threatened unspecified sanctions against Khartoum by the end of the month if it does not quell the violence, is expected to receive a written report early next week. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s special envoy, Jan Pronk, will brief members on Sept. 2.
But council diplomats say punitive measures are unlikely because of political differences in the 15-member body. The United States and Europeans favor a tougher policy than China, Pakistan and others.
Increase African troops
Annan’s military adviser, Maj.-Gen. Patrick Cammaert of the Netherlands, told the council that the African Union, which has a handful of military observers in Darfur, should increase its numbers to 3,000 military and 1,500 police, diplomats said.
Both the United States and Britain said they were willing to provide assistance for an African Union force that could serve as a bulwark against any future violence.
But Sudan so far has rejected a larger African Union force, which Nigeria and others have suggested could disarm African rebels in Darfur while Khartoum neutralized the Janjaweed.
“I think we are very hopeful that this is something that will be taken up in Abuja and ultimately accepted by the government of Sudan,” Holliday said.
The council in a statement applauded the work of the African Union, led by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abuja, but it gave few specifics.
The Darfur revolt broke out in February 2003 after years of conflict between Arab nomads and African farmers over scarce resources in Sudan’s arid western region. The Janjaweed reacted to the uprising by looting and burning villages in a campaign of ethnic cleansing, often assisted by the Sudanese army.
Kalomoh told the council that there was no evidence of attacks by government aircraft since July 30. He also said that additional police and vehicles were sent to Darfur but that villagers still feared harassment and looting.
The government is also trying to provide safe areas for uprooted villagers and has identified regions in which about 30 percent of the displaced people live. And Khartoum has allowed a large number of foreign humanitarian staff into the region, now numbering more than 700, U.N. officials said.
The U.N. World Food Program began food airdrops Tuesday around Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, to help feed displaced people in the inaccessible area. The agency said the airdrops would continue for at least a month.
