February 13, 2004
Humanitarian access to Sudan's war torn Darfur region remains difficult and limited, despite government claims that it is opening relief routes. An intensifying round of international pressure is underway to convince the Sudanese government to work for peace in the region and allow humanitarian access. However, the pressure started too late and has shown little progress so far. In recent days the government of President Al-Bashir has talked of a unilateral ceasefire in Darfur, improved security and stability and more humanitarian aid, yet there is no sign of any improvement, relief workers in Sudan say. "There is absolutely no access to any place, no humanitarian access," according to one agency trying to bring supplies to Darfur. "Things are not changing at all. If they are changing, they are changing for the worse." Six million people live in Darfur, which borders Chad in the western part of Sudan. A year of fighting between rebel groups and the Sudanese government has caused more than 100,000 Sudanese to flee to Chad, displaced more than 700,000 people within Darfur, and put about three million people beyond the reach of the United Nations and private aid agencies, according to reports in the Sudanese press. There are persistent reports of killing, bombing, and burning villages. "There's a frenzy of violence going on right now," a U.S. official in Khartoum said. Some aid agencies have accused the government of using what small amounts of food are getting through to advance its war aims. Agencies say the government is directing food into urban areas, so that people are drawn out of the countryside to get food in the cities, where they are more easily managed by government troops. As a result, rebel groups are losing support in the countryside.
Until recently the Darfur crisis was seen as a sideshow to a much larger problem, the 20 year war between government and rebel forces in the south of Sudan. That war, which has caused an estimated two million deaths and displaced some four million people, has slowed down in recent years, as negotiators for the two sides have edged closer and closer to a cease fire and peace agreement. The government of Sudan hopes that progress toward peace in the south will lead to increased foreign investment, aid, and respectability in international circles. The U.S. and other governments were perhaps too slow to react to the fighting in Darfur for fear of disrupting the peace process in the south. But as death and devastation in Darfur have gotten worse, concern is mounting about a humanitarian crisis there. "The population is really at risk," an aid worker said, based on reports from colleagues in Darfur. The government has limited press access, so the world has no picture of what is happening. International pressure on the Al-Bashir government to take steps to end the civil war in Darfur and to facilitate – not block – humanitarian aid is growing, so far without results. A high level U.S. delegation, led by Roger Winter, the assistant director of the U.S. Agency for Development, met with President Al-Bashir this week and is currently in Darfur. Ambassador Tom Vraalsen, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Sudan, is currently in Khartoum, meeting with the government, UN officials, and relief agencies. A delegation of parliamentarians from the European Union is expected soon. In addition, the U.S. Congress is scheduled to hold hearings on Sudan later this month. The hearings could lead to tougher economic sanctions against the Khartoum government. "The U.S. and other governments need to send a clear message to Khartoum," said an aid worker. "What it is doing in Darfur is unacceptable and will have consequences. The government needs to push for a ceasefire with the rebels, permit monitoring to prevent human rights violations, and facilitate improved access for humanitarian aid." Right now the UN and many humanitarian agencies are ready to ship aid into Darfur when conditions stabilize and the government allows relief to get through. Despite government promises to the contrary, access is being denied. "The government says that aid groups in Khartoum may travel to war-torn Darfur, but at the airport (in Khartoum) officials won't allow people to go," according to one relief worker.
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