Sudan’s conflict-ridden Darfur region faces a humanitarian ”catastrophe” without rapid action to improve security and let aid flow to those in need, the head of the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday.
The warning by UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres followed a similar cry of alarm by top UN humanitarian official Jan Egeland last month.
”Hundreds are still dying amid ongoing violence, and thousands are being forcibly displaced … If things do not improve, we are heading for a major catastrophe,” Guterres said in a statement.
The Sudanese government rejects UN plans to deploy 20 000 troops and police to the Darfur region by year-end, likening it to a Western invasion that would attract jihadi militants and create an Iraq-like quagmire.
Khartoum has deployed thousands of troops to the region in recent months to confront rebels who refused to sign a peace accord, and the UNHCR said this had triggered fears of a major military offensive that could create yet more refugees.
”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 … Lives depend on it,” Guterres said.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than two million forced to find shelter in camps during three-and-a-half years of fighting. Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms accusing the central government of marginalising the remote region that borders Chad.
Guterres said humanitarian agencies were already struggling to cope with rising violence that has left wide swathes of Darfur too dangerous to visit by road.
A dozen aid workers have been killed since May and humanitarian convoys are repeatedly attacked and vehicles stolen. UN offices and compounds have also been attacked, and staff can only get to some areas by air, the UNHCR added.
”An already bad situation is worsening by the day,” Guterres said.
The crisis could increase instability in bordering areas of Chad and the Central African Republic, the UNHCR said. Chad is already host to about 200 000 Darfur refugees and 46 000 from the Central African Republic.
”Chad has been extremely generous in helping refugees, but it is now close to breaking point,” Guterres said.
The UN wants to send troops to replace 7 000 soldiers and police from the African Union, whose mandate is ending.
But Sudanese politicians say Khartoum fears they could be used to arrest any official likely to be indicted by the International Criminal Court investigating suspected war crimes in the region. — Reuters