Sudan bows to pressure

2004-09-30 13:21

By Mohammed Ali Saeed

Khartoum - Sudan bowed to mounting pressure over the crisis in Darfur on Wednesday and agreed to allow African Union forces to monitor the activities of its police in camps for displaced persons in the region.

Radhia Achouri, a spokesperson for the United Nations special envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, told reporters here that the move was aimed at reassuring displaced persons, many of whom have lost confidence in the police.

She added that the presence of the AU forces in and around the camps would further help "restore trust between the displaced persons and the police".

The Sudanese government's consent to the arrangement represented the first concrete action towards implementing UN Security Council resolution 1556 that was passed on September 18.

Charges of genocide

The resolution, the second on the Darfur crisis, called for the deployment of additional numbers of AU observers and forces in the region and an investigation into charges of genocide in Darfur.

It also warned Khartoum of possible sanctions against its oil industry unless it protects the region's population.

International humanitarian agencies operating in the region say despite that earlier pledges by the government to stabilize the security situation, abuse, including rape, continues.

The deployment of more police in the region has also done little to prevent attacks against the displaced, particularly women who venture outside the camps to collect wood, the agencies added.

"The stories we heard in all three states of Darfur convey an acute sense of insecurity," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour after a recent visit to Darfur.

Climate of fear

Many refugees "continue to live in a climate of fear", she added.

The United Nations has been putting pressure on Khartoum to disarm the Janjaweed and increase security in the area so refugees may return home, but Arbour said "displaced people cannot envisage returning home because they do not trust the government of Sudan to protect them."

She said "at best they feel the authorities respond inadequately to their concerns, and at worst that they are in collusion with their abusers, including armed groups and militias generally described as Janjaweed."

The UN's Pronk announced last Thursday in Khartoum that the AU and the UN were studying a plan to deploy 5 000 military observers and forces to protect them in the Darfur region. - AFP

- SAPA