[sudan] how much do you know or care
The intensity of the combat in Darfur, the western Sudanese region the size of Texas, has forced a new flood of civilians to flee their burned and bombed-out villages for sprawling camps on the outskirts of this and other cities. The estimated 2 million people already in such camps are settling in for the long haul, losing hope that they will ever return home.
Hundreds of thousands of people have already died in three years of war, which began when rebels attacked government installations in Darfur. The government responded by sending in army troops and arming a militia, called the Janjaweed, that has attacked rebels and civilians.
"We don't want the United Nations back to Sudan no matter the conditions," said the president Saturday in Havana, where he was attending an international summit of developing countries. A cease-fire agreement for Darfur was reached in May but has collapsed in the four months since it was signed in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. The government has repeatedly violated terms prohibiting military flights over Darfur and new troop deployments.
The government also has failed to restrain the Janjaweed, which continues to rape, kill and pillage. Increasingly, the militiamen are doing so while wearing crisp green uniforms, distributed by the government.
Civilians here say militiamen gallop their horses and camels into the camps for displaced people, sometimes within site of African Union troop positions. Rarely have the troops responded with force. In some cases, Darfur civilians, still smarting from deaths of friends and family members, have demonstrated angrily in front of African Union encampments.
"This African Union, if there is fighting, they are running away," said Halima Idriss, 55, gesturing furiously as her orange head scarf flapped in the hot wind of a camp outside of El Fasher.
The African Union's Peace and Security Council plans to review its decision to depart at a meeting in New York on Monday. But with its current mandate and resources, African Union officers express despair about their ability to keep peace when both the government and rebel forces are determined to return to war. Field commanders from the only rebel group that signed May's peace deal say they, too, are likely to resume fighting soon unless the United Nations sends its peacekeepers to Darfur.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the African Union officers muttered angrily about their failure to enforce calm while expressing greater fears. They used the words "genocide" and "Rwanda" to describe what they expect will follow their departure.
Outside analysts also say that the African Union, while ineffective at peacekeeping, is serving as vital eyes and ears for the outside world at a time when the Sudanese government is making it more difficult for aid groups and journalists to operate here. With the African Union gone, they say, the last buffer will be lost against a bloodier assault in Darfur.
"All predictions are that without witnesses, the slaughter will begin," said Eric Reeves, a Smith College professor who has closely monitored the Darfur conflict, speaking from Northampton, Mass. "As long as the A.U. stays in, they are powerless but they are witnesses."
The African Union pullout would come shortly before the end of the rainy season, when flooded dirt roads typically dry out, allowing full-scale military maneuvering to resume after many weeks of limited mobility for both sides.
Idriss, the Darfur woman who said she had lost faith in the African Union, expressed tentative hope that U.N. peacekeepers might do better. If they don't come, she said, she knows what will happen. "We will lose all the people of Darfur," Idriss said. "The killing is always going on."
By Craig Timberg Washington Post Foreign Service
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/17/AR2006091700624.html
Hundreds of thousands of people have already died in three years of war, which began when rebels attacked government installations in Darfur. The government responded by sending in army troops and arming a militia, called the Janjaweed, that has attacked rebels and civilians.
"We don't want the United Nations back to Sudan no matter the conditions," said the president Saturday in Havana, where he was attending an international summit of developing countries. A cease-fire agreement for Darfur was reached in May but has collapsed in the four months since it was signed in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. The government has repeatedly violated terms prohibiting military flights over Darfur and new troop deployments.
The government also has failed to restrain the Janjaweed, which continues to rape, kill and pillage. Increasingly, the militiamen are doing so while wearing crisp green uniforms, distributed by the government.
Civilians here say militiamen gallop their horses and camels into the camps for displaced people, sometimes within site of African Union troop positions. Rarely have the troops responded with force. In some cases, Darfur civilians, still smarting from deaths of friends and family members, have demonstrated angrily in front of African Union encampments.
"This African Union, if there is fighting, they are running away," said Halima Idriss, 55, gesturing furiously as her orange head scarf flapped in the hot wind of a camp outside of El Fasher.
The African Union's Peace and Security Council plans to review its decision to depart at a meeting in New York on Monday. But with its current mandate and resources, African Union officers express despair about their ability to keep peace when both the government and rebel forces are determined to return to war. Field commanders from the only rebel group that signed May's peace deal say they, too, are likely to resume fighting soon unless the United Nations sends its peacekeepers to Darfur.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the African Union officers muttered angrily about their failure to enforce calm while expressing greater fears. They used the words "genocide" and "Rwanda" to describe what they expect will follow their departure.
Outside analysts also say that the African Union, while ineffective at peacekeeping, is serving as vital eyes and ears for the outside world at a time when the Sudanese government is making it more difficult for aid groups and journalists to operate here. With the African Union gone, they say, the last buffer will be lost against a bloodier assault in Darfur.
"All predictions are that without witnesses, the slaughter will begin," said Eric Reeves, a Smith College professor who has closely monitored the Darfur conflict, speaking from Northampton, Mass. "As long as the A.U. stays in, they are powerless but they are witnesses."
The African Union pullout would come shortly before the end of the rainy season, when flooded dirt roads typically dry out, allowing full-scale military maneuvering to resume after many weeks of limited mobility for both sides.
Idriss, the Darfur woman who said she had lost faith in the African Union, expressed tentative hope that U.N. peacekeepers might do better. If they don't come, she said, she knows what will happen. "We will lose all the people of Darfur," Idriss said. "The killing is always going on."
By Craig Timberg Washington Post Foreign Service
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/17/AR2006091700624.html
posted by James Higham @ 20:08
<< Home