Secretary-General voices deep concern at aerial bombing raids in Darfur

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has told the Sudanese Government he is deeply concerned about its recent wave of aerial bombardments inside Darfur and that he expects a swift inquiry into last Friday’s incident in which 20 people, including five United Nations staff, taking part in a social gathering in the war-torn region were arrested and assaulted.

During a meeting yesterday with Mutrif Siddig, the Under-Secretary of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, Mr. Ban expressed particular alarm at reports of many civilian casualties following the Sudanese aerial bombing raids in the north of Darfur, a UN spokesman said.

Since 2003, more than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2 million others displaced because of fighting between Government forces, allied militias and rebel groups seeking greater autonomy. About 4 million people now depend on outside aid.

The number of attacks and acts of harassment against UN staff and humanitarian workers has risen sharply in recent months, and the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reports that they have continued since Friday’s incident in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state.

Some 20 people from the UN, the African Union monitoring mission, known as AMIS, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were taking part in a social gathering when local police and security officials arrested them, assaulting some, before later releasing them.

Some of the injuries sustained by the staff members were so serious they required treatment at the UN clinic in Nyala. UNMIS and the UN Staff Council committee on staff security condemned the attack.

On Monday, South Darfur’s State Attorney ordered the arrest of the representative of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) who had signed for the staff release three days earlier. The OCHA staff member was released later the same day after the intervention of UN security and legal officials.

UNMIS has been stepping up its presence in Darfur as part of a three-phase process of enhanced support for AMIS. Under the plan, AMIS will eventually be replaced by a hybrid UN-AU force comprising about 17,000 peacekeepers and 3,000 police officers.

At a meeting of the Tripartite Mechanism, which brings together officials from Sudan, UNMIS and AMIS, the Mission provided an update on the status of the first phase, a $21 million “light support package” to AMIS that includes staff and equipment.

So far, 27 UN military staff officers and 25 UN Police (UNPOL) advisers have been deployed in Darfur, with another 20 military staff and five UNPOL advisers expected to be dispatched by the end of the month. Ten civilian staff have arrived in Khartoum and will be deployed to Darfur shortly.