UNHCR: Autonomy for Darfur
2004-09-24 17:32
Ndjamena, Chad - The Darfur region of Sudan should be granted autonomy, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, said on Friday.
"There has to be some clear partition of power in Darfur," Lubbers said of the region where a conflict between people of African and Arab origins has led to an estimated 50 000 deaths and the displacement of 1.4 million people.
Speaking to reporters in Chad, whose eastern territory borders Darfur, Lubbers said autonomy would not mean "the total giving away of Darfur" by Sudan's central government in Khartoum.
Sudan's State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Mohammed Youssef Abdullah said on Friday the government was open to negotiation on autonomy - which has long been at the top of the Darfur rebels' demands.
"What do they mean by an autonomous region? This is something to be discussed," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press in Cairo.
The Arab-dominated government denies widespread allegations that its troops and allied Arab militia, the Janjaweed, have conducted an ethnic cleansing campaign against Darfur's African population.
Lubbers' autonomy suggestion went as far as any international official has done in proposing solutions to the 19-month conflict in Darfur, which the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The United States says genocide has occurred in Darfur - a charge the Sudanese government rejects.
Sanctions
Lubbers spoke of international concerns to restore security for Darfur's civilians "if the political will of the Sudanese authorities doesn't produce an ending of violence on the ground."
Last weekend, the UN Security Council resolved to consider sanctions against Sudan's oil industry if the government does not act quickly to stop the violence in Darfur and bring the perpetrators to justice.
The US State Department's Senior Representative on Sudan, Charles Snyder, said Friday it would take "18 months to two years" to disarm the Janjaweed militia and secure Darfur so that the displaced people can return to their homes.
Speaking in Nairobi, Kenya, Snyder told reporters there are no "30-day, 90-day quick fixes" to the insecurity in Darfur.
Lubbers said there needs to be renewed peace talks between the government and the Darfur rebel groups. Negotiations mediated by Nigeria broke down last week.
"We need very much the people of the African Union," Lubbers said, referring to the African Union monitors in Darfur and other troops on offer from the 51-nation African body.
Lubbers began Friday a five-day mission in which he is expected to visit camps of Darfur refugees in eastern Chad and western Sudan and meet government officials in Khartoum.
- AP