Egeland urges Darfur combatants to build on peace pact

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland on Tuesday urged the Sudanese government and insurgents in the country's strife-torn Darfur to take advantage of the peace deal signed last week between Khartoum and a rebel group to bring the conflict in the region to an end. "This the time when we could make a change for the better, but it could also be the time for lost opportunity," Egeland told a news conference in Khartoum after spending two days assessing the humanitarian situation in Darfur. He said parties to the conflict should "seize" the opportunity for peace and say "enough is enough" to violence. The groundbreaking deal, signed on 5 May by government and the largest of the three rebel groups involved in the three-year conflict, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, provides for the disarmament of the Darfur rebels as well as the allegedly Khartoum-backed Janjawid militia, who are blamed for most of the atrocities against civilians in Darfur. Egeland had a meeting with Kosti Manibe, Sudan's minister for humanitarian affairs, who promised to end entry and travel restrictions for humanitarian workers in Sudan. United States President George W Bush, meanwhile, said that African Union (AU) troops currently protecting civilians in Darfur should form the core of a "more mobile and more capable" military force that "generates better intelligence and is given a clear mandate to protect the civilians from harm." He said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would address the UN Security Council on Tuesday about the deployment of UN troops in Darfur. "She's going to request a resolution that will accelerate the deployment of UN peacekeepers into Darfur. We're now working with the UN to identify countries that contribute those troops so the peacekeeping effort will be robust," Bush said during a media briefing at the White House on Monday. The 7,000-strong AU force is currently responsible for patrolling Darfur, an area the size of France, with limited resources and a weak mandate. Rebel groups, government troops and militia allegedly allied to the army have wreaked havoc in the region since early 2003, and civilians have born the brunt of the conflict. The UN estimates that 3.6 million people - of whom 1.8 million are internally displaced and 200,000 have fled to neighbouring Chad - are affected by the conflict. More than 200,000 people have been killed as a result of violence. Bush said he had called Sudan President Umar el-Bashir to commend him on the signing of the peace agreement with the SLM/A and to urge the government’s support of a UN force. "The vulnerable people of Darfur deserve more than sympathy. They deserve the active protection that UN peacekeepers can provide," Bush added. Advocacy group, Human Rights Watch (HRW), welcomed the signing of a peace deal and urged parties to the conflict to refrain from attacking humanitarian agencies, which prevented their own countrymen receiving much-need aid. "After three years of horrendous attacks, more than three million people in Darfur depend on international aid to survive," said Peter Takirambudde, HRW’s Africa director, in a briefing paper on Darfur released on Monday. "The warring parties must give humanitarian aid workers access to those in need. The international community must ensure they stick to the deal." HRW said the human rights situation in Darfur had deteriorated in recent months, despite commitments by all parties to the conflict to respect a ceasefire agreement signed in April 2004. "International pressure forced the Sudanese government to allow aid agencies into Darfur in 2004, but since then Khartoum has been trying to strangle relief efforts," said Takirambudde, who added that rebel movements had hindered humanitarian work in many areas as well. "Rebel commanders in Darfur must instruct their forces to protect all civilians, including aid workers, and the humanitarian supplies intended for civilians." Bush said he had asked Congress to increase food aid to Sudan by an additional US$225 million. "To get food to Darfur quickly, I've directed USAID [US Agency for International Development] to ship emergency food stockpiles. I've directed five ships and ordered them to be loaded with food and proceed immediately to Port Sudan. I've ordered the emergency purchase of another 40,000 metric tons of food for rapid shipment to Sudan. These actions will allow the [UN] World Food Programme [WFP] to restore full food rations to the people of Darfur this summer," he said. WFP had since the beginning of May reduced the daily food rations for vulnerable people in Darfur to as little as 1,050 kilocalories - half the minimum daily requirement of 2,100 kilocalories per person - in a bid to make its limited food stocks last longer during the "hunger season," the annual preharvest period from July to September, when needs are the greatest.