|
Darfur crisis 'worsening'
29/01/2007 10:04 - (SA)
Khartoum - Six western aid agencies on Sunday warned that the humanitarian situation in Darfur was approaching crisis point and urged leaders to take action before it was "too late".
The warning was issued as heads of state were gathering in Addis Adaba, Ethiopia, for an African Union summit set to be overshadowed by another row over Sudan's bid to become president of the 53-member organisation.
The joint communique said: "Enormous humanitarian response in Darfur will soon be paralysed unless African and global leaders at the AU Summit take urgent action to end rising violence against civilians and aid workers."
The statement was signed by Action Against Hunger, CARE International, Oxfam International, Norwegian Refugee Council, World Vision and Save the Children.
Aid workers face violence
It said African heads of state and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon would fail the people of Darfur if they did not take concrete steps to herald the start of a new chapter in the region and ensure that an immediate ceasefire was both agreed and enforced.
The agencies said aid workers were facing violence on a scale not seen before in Darfur, leaving access to people in need "at the conflict's lowest point at a time when the humanitarian need is greater than ever".
According to the communique, attacks on civilians were again rising and forcing even more people to flee their homes, and a breakdown of the aid response would leave civilians in greater danger.
If the situation was not addressed immediately, "hundreds of thousands of lives will be put in danger along with a total breakdown of the entire humanitarian response".
They reported that fresh fighting in January had left more than 350 people dead and forced tens of thousands from their homes.
Lack of accountability
It said that the Darfur region had become "increasingly lawless" due to the numerous rebel movements and lack of accountability, noting that the aid workers had become a target of this widespread violence.
The communique said aid "staff were raped, beaten and subjected to mock executions" during an attack one month ago on the world's largest camp for internally displaced people in Gereida, South Darfur, which hosted about 130 000 IDPs.
The statement added that it was still far too dangerous for agencies to return to the Gereida camp.
The aid agencies blamed the international community for not providing AU troops with the funds, equipment and support they needed, noting, however, that the AU "can - and must - do more with the resources already at its disposal".
Last year, Khartoum reluctantly agreed to hold off on its ambitions to chair the AU for 12 months amid an outcry over the situation in Darfur, where a 7 000-strong AU force had struggled to check the bloodshed, which had already claimed more than 200 000 lives.
Despite repeated warnings over the deepening humanitarian crisis, Sudan had vowed that it was still intent on taking up the post.
- AFP
|
News
