Darfur IDPs fear to go home due to insecurity and abuses - Deng

Contrary to Sudanese government assertions that the security situation in the troubled western Darfur region has improved, civilians displaced by the conflict insist that violence perpetrated by Janjawid militias is continuing, a United Nations official said. Francis Deng, the UN Secretary-General’s representative on internally displaced persons (IDPs), visited Darfur last week accompanied by Sudanese officials. He said the IDPs talked of "persistent insecurity and human rights violations", including "many accounts" of rape of women outside their camps. "I found a situation of persistent insecurity and human rights violations as the paramount concern of the displaced," Deng said in a statement on Monday. "I was particularly concerned about many accounts and reports of persistent rape of women outside the camps." "While most [IDPs] expressed a desire to eventually return to their places of origin, they all strongly affirmed their unwillingness to return at this stage due to prevailing insecurity, mainly because of continued attacks by the so-called Janjawid militia and other armed actors," he added. Deng, a Sudanese national, said the IDPs complained of being pressured by some officials to return home. But some of those who returned home had again fled because attacks had not ceased. "While the displaced appeared to be in relative safety inside the camps, they were generally fearful of venturing outside," he said. Urging the Sudanese government to build a national identity based on inclusiveness and not race, culture or religion, Deng said: "Addressing the insecurity situation must be the absolute priority. The Janjawid militia need to be neutralised or pacified." He noted that despite government denials that it was cooperating with the Janjawid, reliable evidence suggested that the militias had played a pivotal role in containing a major offensive by rebels of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement against government troops. "A comprehensive, peaceful and negotiated settlement of the conflict is necessary to address the root causes of displacement and the grievances of the people of Darfur," he added. "The parties should therefore urgently agree to a comprehensive cessation of hostilities and resume negotiations for a political settlement," said Deng. According to Deng, access for humanitarian workers had improved. But the actual delivery of aid had been hampered by insecurity, a shortfall in donor pledges and administrative obstacles maintained by the authorities, such as the requirement that local authorities be notified of humanitarian flight plans in advance and the issuing of short-term visas to aid workers. "The government should intensify its cooperation with the international humanitarian community in a transparent and open manner aimed at ensuring swift, effective and sustained assistance and protection for the displaced," said Deng. "There is also an urgent need for donors to bridge the shortfall and for the humanitarian community to significantly increase the number of staff in the region," he added. In Khartoum, the government said on Monday it would double the number of security forces in Darfur to 12,000 over the next four months. Foreign Minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, who met with the Jan Pronk, the UN Secretary-General’s special representative for Sudan, said the measure was intended to improve the security situation there. Earlier Sudanese officials had angrily denounced a UN resolution, which demands that Khartoum disarm Janjawid militias within 30 days or face further actions. The resolution, passed on Friday, also demanded that Khartoum apprehend and bring to justice the militia leaders and their associates who had incited and committed violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Darfur. It called on the government to immediately fulfil all the commitments it made in a statement issued jointly with the Secretary-General on 3 July, particularly by facilitating the distribution of relief aid to those affected by the conflict. The foreign ministry said the resolution did not address the causes of the Darfur conflict and the 30-day period "was illogical and difficult to be implemented". Instead, the statement said, Khartoum was ready to act on the Darfur situation in 90 days. The armed forces spokesman, Gen Mohamed Beshir Suleiman, reportedly said the UN resolution amounted to "a declaration of war". Last week, the African Union reported that armed militias had continued to attack civilians in Darfur despite the undertaking by the government to disarm them. It said the militias, believed to be Janjawid fighters, had continued to loot and burn villages, leaving some villages deserted. The Darfur conflict, according to the UN, has displaced about 1.2 million people within the region, while at least 180,000 others are refugees in neighbouring Chad after fleeing attacks by the Janjawid militias.