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Annan urges reassessment of Sudan efforts
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-23 14:46
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the U.N. Security Council Wednesday
to urgently reassess its efforts to end nearly two-years of conflict and
bloodshed in Sudan's western Darfur region, saying the current approach isn't
working.
Both Annan and the council expressed deep concern Tuesday at the
deteriorating security situation in the vast region where rebels and
government-backed forces have repeatedly broken pledges to stop fighting and
only 900 troops of a 4,000-strong African Union force have actually been
deployed.
But the secretary-general went further Wednesday, saying "quite frankly our
approach isn't working."
The council on Tuesday condemned repeated cease-fire violations and warned it
would consider "a full range of options" to pressure both sides to comply with
council resolutions if fighting doesn't stop. But no further meeting has been
scheduled this month.
Two Security Council resolutions have threatened possible sanctions, but U.S.
Ambassador Jack Danforth has said members won't consider such tough measures.
China, which imports Sudanese oil, has been most reluctant, but China's U.N.
Ambassador Wang Guangya said Wednesday his government would consider further
action if both sides are targeted.
"Whatever measure it is, we are going to study it, but it has to be targeted
on both sides, not just on one side," Wang said. "Clearly the information from
the ground is that both sides are making the troubles, not one side. So we need
to take a balanced approach."
The conflict in Darfur has killed 70,000 people and driven 1.8 million from
their homes since non-Arab rebel groups took up arms in February 2003 against
what they saw as years of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of
African origin. The government responded with a counterinsurgency campaign in
which the Janjaweed, an Arab militia, has committed wide-scale abuses against
the African population.
The Sudanese government said Monday it was ordering its troops in three areas
of Darfur to observe an immediate cease-fire. On Tuesday, representatives of the
two main rebel groups in Darfur announced at peace talks in Nigeria that their
fighters would not initiate attacks.
The top African Union official in Sudan, Jean Baptiste, said that as of
Wednesday, "We have not heard of any fighting between the belligerents."
However, humanitarian groups say the insecurity continues. They say it is
impeding their ability to deliver food and other forms of aid to the 1.8 million
people displaced by the 22-month conflict.
"We still have locations that continue to be inaccessible due to lack of
security," said World Food Program spokeswoman Laura Melo. The insecurity was
due to bandits as well as fighting between the rebels and government soldiers.
Annan said Wednesday that "the situation is deteriorating," the people forced
from their homes are suffering, and "the African Union has not been able to put
in as many forces as we had hoped and they need desperate help."
"What can the council do, working with the AU and others, to accelerate the
rate of deployment and ensure that we have more troops on the ground to assist?
What other measures can we take to put pressure on the parties and hold some of
the individuals who are responsible accountable ... for us to be able to move
forward?" he asked.
U.S. deputy ambassador Stuart Holliday suggested Tuesday that Annan make
another trip to Sudan, calling the situation in Darfur "very disturbing" and
saying "the continued engagement of the secretary-general is critical."
The secretary-general went to Sudan this summer and got an agreement from the
government to disarm the militias — a pledge the U.N. envoy to Sudan says has
not been kept.
Annan didn't rule out another trip to Sudan, but said action is needed first
in New York by the Security Council "and so while a trip to the region may
sometime be necessary, the reassessment is urgent."
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