Darfur insecurity needs cross-border solution - UN

The United Nations Security Council delegation that recently visited Darfur has called for a resolution of the security problems in the troubled western Sudanese region in parallel with the situation in Chad. British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told the Council on Thursday that providing adequate security in Chadian camps was an "immense challenge". It would not be acceptable to deploy a UN force in Darfur if it served to merely transfer the attacks and insecurity into eastern Chad through a porous or non-existent border, he said. The delegation agreed with the African Union, which currently has 7,000 underfunded peacekeepers in Darfur, that the UN should take over peacekeeping responsibilities. "By the end of our visit, the mission felt we’d edged further towards the probability of the government of Sudan accepting such a deployment," Parry said. France’s representative, Jean-Marc de la Sablière, said refugees and internally displaced people in Chad needed "increased and unremitting security" in camps along the border with Darfur, particularly because of the frequency of the militia raids, rampant forced recruitment and attacks on humanitarian workers. He urged UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, to devise a plan to provide international assistance to the Chadian camps and suggested the AU/UN technical mission that is currently in Darfur incorporate it in its assessment. The team is trying to determine measures needed to strengthen the AU peacekeeping force and enable it to perform additional tasks under the 5 May Darfur Peace Agreement. It is also evaluating the requirements for a possible transition to a UN operation. "A serious deterioration of the situation" would follow if the security of the camps in Chad was not addressed as soon as possible, de la Sablière warned. Meanwhile, the international humanitarian aid agency Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said in a statement on Friday that more than 10,000 people had fled violence and insecurity in southeastern Chad and sought refuge across the border in Darfur. In early May refugees started arriving in Um Dukhun, a small town in the southwestern corner of Darfur, at a junction with the borders of Chad and the Central African Republic. Most of the new arrivals were Chadian, but some were Sudanese who initially fled the conflict in Darfur three years ago and had been displaced again. "The first attack was the worst," a 25-year-old woman from Um Ladja village in Chad told MSF. "They took everything and killed anyone who was in the way. They said that they were going to take all the cows, and that they would kill anyone who went to farm and take his children. We came to Um Dukhun as soon as we could get out, because they kept coming back." Chris Lockyear, project coordinator for MSF in Um Dukhun, said: "The new arrivals tell us that many people ran deeper into Chad, but we do not know what condition they are in. What's more, the rainy season is upon us, which will leave many villages isolated. The rains will also make it harder to provide humanitarian assistance. We need to help these people now."