Sudan war 'threatens region'

2006-09-08 18:57

Geneva - Worsening violence in Sudan's conflict-ravaged region of Darfur is threatening the entire region, said the United Nations' refugee chief on Friday, warning that Sudanese troops could be preparing for a major military offensive that would lead to many more people being uprooted from their homes.

Antonio Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees said: "Millions of people are already at grave risk.

"Hundreds are still dying amid ongoing violence, and thousands are still being forcibly displaced."

Guterres, citing the poor security situation in Darfur and the uncertainty about whether a UN peacekeeping force will be deployed to the region, said, "A bad situation is worsening by the day."

Sudanese government forces on August 28 launched a major offensive believed to involve thousands of troops backed by bomber aircraft and helicopter gunships in a bid to flush out rebel strongholds in the troubled western region.

Guterres noted the danger of a government offensive that could lead to the displacement of even more people in Darfur, and said the violence, which has increased since a May peace deal signed by the government and the region's largest rebel group, threatened other countries nearby.

In neighbouring Chad, where UNHCR camps house more than 200 000 Darfur refugees, cross-border violence has at times been so bad that it has sent some Chadians fleeing into Darfur, he noted.

'Urgent international action needed'

He said the Central African Republic, southwest of Sudan, also was threatened with increased instability by the Darfur conflict.

"Urgent international action is needed to put pressure on the parties to the conflict and to convince everyone involved on the ground to let humanitarian agencies safely carry out their work," he said.

"Lives depend on it. If things don't improve, we're heading for a major catastrophe."

More than 200 000 have been killed in the region since 2003, when ethnic African tribes revolted against the Arab-led Khartoum government.

Fighting has caused another 2.5 million people to flee their homes.

The peace deal, signed in Nigeria, was supposed to help end the conflict, but instead has triggered months of fighting between factions of the Sudan Liberation Army.

'State indiscriminately bombing civilians'

The UN has reported continued attacks by armed militias on villages, and has cited evidence that government forces have been complicit in some.

On Wednesday, the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch said the Sudanese government was indiscriminately bombing civilian-occupied villages in Darfur.

It said that sources report flight crews rolling bombs out the back ramps of aircraft, a means of targeting rebels that was often practiced by government forces in its separate 21-year civil war with rebels in southern Sudan.

An understaffed and cash-starved African Union force of 7 000 peacekeeping troops has been unable to halt the violence in Darfur.

- SAPA