Top UN official warns of increasing Darfur violence
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
Wed May 14, 8:35 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. peacekeeping chief warned Wednesday of an alarming increase in violence in Darfur that has spread to the Sudanese capital and could escalate further.
Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno urged all actors — the disparate rebel groups and feuding Sudanese and Chadian governments — to "move away from the brink of going into another cycle of violence" and start negotiations to end the Darfur conflict.
In a briefing to the U.N. Security Council, Guehenno said the surprise rebel attack on Khartoum last weekend, which took place "during an alarming increase of violence in Darfur itself," has implications for the operations of the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force.
The attack by rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement, based hundreds of miles to the west in Darfur, also has implications for the efforts to revitalize political negotiations on Darfur, Chad-Sudan relations, and Sudanese national politics, he said.
"This great deterioration of security ... (is) a major challenge for all of us," Guehenno told reporters afterwards. "Our great concern is that it doesn't lead to further escalation."
Guehenno told the council that the U.N.-AU force has received unconfirmed reports that another Darfur rebel group, SLA-Unity, "is gathering forces with over 40 vehicles near Khor Abeche to attack El Fasher," the capital of North Darfur and headquarters for UNAMID.
"In addition, there have been reports of JEM and Chadian armed elements crossing the border and assembling in West Darfur," he said.
Guehenno said he's urging the peacekeepers to be on high alert.
"Unfortunately there is no place in Darfur that can claim to be safe from possible violence," he said.
He expressed concern that the attack on Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman over the weekend took both peacekeepers and the government by surprise.
"The incident underscores the serious shortfalls in the mission's resources, especially aerial reconnaissance capabilities," he said.
The U.N.-AU force took over peacekeeping duties in Darfur in January from a beleaguered AU force. It only has about 7,500 troops and fewer than 2,000 police on the ground, out of a total of 26,000 that have been authorized.
Guehenno laid out the U.N. plan to get 80 percent of the force into Darfur by the end of the year.
Ethnic Africans in Darfur took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in 2003 to fight discrimination. The U.N. says 2.5 million people have been forced from their homes during the five-year conflict — including 150,000 since the beginning of the year — and the death toll could be as high as 300,000.
The ongoing violence, and the hijacking of 38 commercial trucks with food from the World Food Program, has forced the U.N. agency to halve rations beginning in May, Guehenno said. He added that "malnutrition indicators remain at extremely worrying levels in many areas of the region."
Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno urged all actors — the disparate rebel groups and feuding Sudanese and Chadian governments — to "move away from the brink of going into another cycle of violence" and start negotiations to end the Darfur conflict.
In a briefing to the U.N. Security Council, Guehenno said the surprise rebel attack on Khartoum last weekend, which took place "during an alarming increase of violence in Darfur itself," has implications for the operations of the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force.
The attack by rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement, based hundreds of miles to the west in Darfur, also has implications for the efforts to revitalize political negotiations on Darfur, Chad-Sudan relations, and Sudanese national politics, he said.
"This great deterioration of security ... (is) a major challenge for all of us," Guehenno told reporters afterwards. "Our great concern is that it doesn't lead to further escalation."
Guehenno told the council that the U.N.-AU force has received unconfirmed reports that another Darfur rebel group, SLA-Unity, "is gathering forces with over 40 vehicles near Khor Abeche to attack El Fasher," the capital of North Darfur and headquarters for UNAMID.
"In addition, there have been reports of JEM and Chadian armed elements crossing the border and assembling in West Darfur," he said.
Guehenno said he's urging the peacekeepers to be on high alert.
"Unfortunately there is no place in Darfur that can claim to be safe from possible violence," he said.
He expressed concern that the attack on Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman over the weekend took both peacekeepers and the government by surprise.
"The incident underscores the serious shortfalls in the mission's resources, especially aerial reconnaissance capabilities," he said.
The U.N.-AU force took over peacekeeping duties in Darfur in January from a beleaguered AU force. It only has about 7,500 troops and fewer than 2,000 police on the ground, out of a total of 26,000 that have been authorized.
Guehenno laid out the U.N. plan to get 80 percent of the force into Darfur by the end of the year.
Ethnic Africans in Darfur took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in 2003 to fight discrimination. The U.N. says 2.5 million people have been forced from their homes during the five-year conflict — including 150,000 since the beginning of the year — and the death toll could be as high as 300,000.
The ongoing violence, and the hijacking of 38 commercial trucks with food from the World Food Program, has forced the U.N. agency to halve rations beginning in May, Guehenno said. He added that "malnutrition indicators remain at extremely worrying levels in many areas of the region."
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