The conflict in Darfur is deteriorating, with full deployment of a new peacekeeping force delayed until next year and no prospect of a political settlement for a war that has killed perhaps 300,000 people in five years, UN officials said on Tuesday.
In grim reports to the Security Council, the UN aid chief and the representative of the peacekeeping mission said that suffering in the Sudanese region was worsening. Tens of thousands more have been uprooted from their homes and food rations to the needy are about to be cut in half, they said.
“We continue to see the goal posts receding, to the point where peace in Darfur seems further away today than ever,” said John Holmes, undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs.
The conflict began in early 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against Sudan’s Arab-dominated central government, accusing it of discrimination. Many of the worst atrocities in the war have been blamed on the janjaweed militia of Arab nomads allied with the government.
A joint UN-African Union (AU) peacekeeping force took over duties in Darfur in January from a beleaguered 7,000-man AU mission. But only about 9,000 soldiers and police officers of the authorized 26,000 have deployed.
“We are late and we are trying to speed up the deployment of this mission, and we [are] facing many obstacles,” the UN-AU mission envoy Rodolphe Adada said. “But eventually, with the help of some donors, we could be in a position to achieve maybe 80 percent of the force by the end of this year.”
The mission faces major problems in putting troops into a very hostile environment, Adada said. It still lacks five critical capabilities to become operational — attack helicopters, surveillance aircraft, transport helicopters, military engineers and logistical support.
Adada told the council that “unfortunately, it is commonly understood today in Darfur that peace is not at all attractive — neither economically nor politically.”
When former UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland brought the Darfur conflict to the Security Council’s attention in April 2004, he said approximately 750,000 people were in danger.
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