Darfur crisis prompts UN to reduce staff

The United Nations has decided to significantly reduce UN staff in parts of Sudan’s volatile West Darfur region because of increasing insecurity and the growing possibility of a war between Sudan and neighbouring Chad.

A statement from Jan Pronk, the top UN envoy in Sudan, said yesterday there would be no evacuation and the United Nations would continue to provide emergency food and health services, water and shelter.

“This decision was taken due to the increasing instability in the affected areas, including a build-up of forces on either side of the border with increased potential for armed conflict,” Pronk said.

The security level has been raised in the northern area of West Darfur and the south-west corridor, which will result in “a considerable reduction in the presence of UN staff and restricted UN access in the affected areas,” he said.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN Mission in Sudan will monitor the situation and carry out a fresh security assessment of the area in the next two to three weeks.

The Darfur crisis began when rebels took up arms against what they saw as years of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of African origin. Sudan’s government is accused of using Janjaweed militia to unleash a campaign of murder, rape, arson and looting in an effort to stamp out the rebellion.

Chad has taken in some 200,000 refugees from the two-year conflict, and another 1.8 million are estimated to be sheltering in camps within Sudan. About 180,000 people have been killed – many from hunger and disease.

Chad and Sudan have in the past traded accusations of supporting rebel groups against each other.

In April, Chadian officials accused Sudan of recruiting, training and arming 3,000 Chadian rebels near their border in an effort to destabilise Chad.

In October, Chad closed its consulate in Darfur, claiming that Sudanese militia crossed from the region in September and killed at least 36 Chadians – a charge the Sudanese government denied. Chad’s Foreign Ministry asked Sudan to close its consulate in eastern Chad because security had deteriorated.

Chadian President Idriss Deby asked for a one-day heads of state meeting of the six-nation Central African Economic and Monetary Community on Wednesday to rally regional support for his accusations that Sudan is instigating two nascent rebel groups in eastern Chad that have launched periodic attacks since October.

At the meeting in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, the regional leaders backed Chad and asked the African Union to investigate.

In a report to the UN Security Council yesterday, Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for urgent improvements in security in Darfur a stepped up search for “a durable political peace, including a permanent ceasefire”.