Sudan: Envoy warns of ethnic cleansing as Security Council calls for ceasefire

As the Security Council today called for a ceasefire to the conflict engulfing the Darfur region in western Sudan, a senior United Nations humanitarian official said a coordinated, "scorched-earth" campaign of ethnic cleansing was taking place there.

Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefed the Council in New York on what he described as a growing humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

UN agencies estimate that some 750,000 Sudanese have become internally displaced in Darfur since fighting erupted early last year between the Sudanese Government, allied militias and rebel groups. Another 110,000 people have fled into neighbouring Chad.

Mr. Egeland later told reporters that field staff from UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were receiving credible reports almost daily about "widespread atrocities and grave violations of human rights" of civilians.

"We have now seen an organized campaign being undertaken of forced depopulation of entire areas," he said, adding he could find no other words than ethnic cleansing to describe what has been happening.

Mr. Egeland said reports showed that the Janjaweed militias were "primarily responsible" and the targets of the campaign are the region's black African population, especially the Fur, Zaghawas and Massalit ethnic communities.

"Scorched-earth tactics are being employed throughout Darfur, including the deliberate destruction of schools, wells, seeds and food supplies, making whole towns and villages uninhabitable."

He said reports indicated that at least 212 civilians were killed last month in Darfur, but he said this was a conservative estimate because the UN does not have unrestricted access to the region.

The envoy said stopping the attacks against civilians must be the priority, and he called on the Sudanese Government to commit to disarming the Janjaweed militias and dissuade them from targeting civilians.

The Security Council, in a statement read out by this month's President, Ambassador Gunter Pleuger of Germany, expressed its deepest concern about the "massive humanitarian crisis" in Darfur and called on all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and reach a ceasefire.

The Council also called for all parties to allow humanitarian agencies full and unimpeded access to Darfur. The UN and NGOs are largely confined to the provincial capitals of Darfur because of the security situation.

Peace talks are currently taking place in N'Djamena, the Chadian capital, between the Sudanese Government and two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

But Mr. Egeland said he was concerned that no substantive progress has yet been made, and that the discussions so far have merely been "talks about talks."

Mr. Egeland also said the UN has had to drastically increase the size of its appeal for funds to help the people affected by the conflict in Darfur. Last September it asked for $23 million, but he said the crisis has grown so much that a "minimum" of $115 million is now required to respond.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today issued a separate appeal for Sudanese refugees living in Chad since the conflict broke out. OCHA said it needs $30 million this year to provide food, water and other assistance to the refugees.

In another development, a spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said it was preparing to send a fact-finding mission to Darfur "in the coming days." The mission would interview refugees in Chad and try to gain access to Darfur.

The Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertrand Ramcharan, said he was alarmed about the human rights situation, calling for all parties to stop the violence immediately.

Mr. Ramcharan said he was extremely concerned about reports that militia groups such as the Janjaweed and Muraheleen were heavily involved in the violence.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), meanwhile, announced it has now transferred more than 20,000 people away from their temporary shelters along the border zone to five safer camps in Chad's interior. The camps were set up to protect the refugees, who had been the subject of cross-border raids from armed militias.

UNHCR said it is now looking for sites to set up more camps inside Chad as demand is outstripping the facilities currently available. Three of the five existing camps are expected to reach maximum capacity within 10 days. The agency is rushing to relocate as many people as possible ahead of the start of the rainy season next month.

Video of the press briefing [29mins]