Sudan warns UN against a 'hostile invasion' of Darfur

Darfur is at a "critical stage," the UN secretary general has warned, after the Sudanese government served notice that any attempt to dispatch a UN force to the troubled region would be considered an invasion. The UN Security Council met in emergency session on Oct. 5 after the government in Khartoum warned that any nation sending troops to the region would be taking part in a "hostile act." The warning was contained in a letter addressed to countries which may contribute troops to a UN force for Darfur. "In the absence of Sudan's consent to the deployment of UN troops, any volunteering to provide peacekeeping troops to Darfur will be considered as a hostile act, a prelude to an invasion of a member country of the UN," it said. Sudan has repeatedly and forcefully expressed opposition to the transformation of the currently under-resourced African Union force into a fully-fledged UN mission to protect local villagers in the area devastated by militias allied to the government. In his latest report on the conflict, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned the Sudanese government against attempting a "military solution" to the conflict, and urged Khartoum to agree to a UN force. "Unless security improves, the world is facing the prospect of having to drastically curtail an acutely needed humanitarian operation," Annan said. He described the situation on the ground as being "again on the brink of catastrophe." "There must be a clear, strong and uniform message from the Security Council and the international community about the consequences of rejecting international assistance for the suffering people of Darfur, and for failing to exercise the responsibility to protect," he said. He was referring to a decision taken by 150 states at a UN summit last year to invoke the "responsibility to protect" to prevent genocide. "In the meantime, the situation in Darfur is becoming more desperate by the day," Annan said, referring to the violence which has continued despite a peace agreement in May between one of the rebel groups and Khartoum. A UN report released on Oct. 9 illustrated the critical level of the growing crisis in Darfur. In a report prepared with the UN Mission in Sudan, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said up to 1,000 armed men attacked some 47 villages in South Darfur in late August. The militiamen wore khaki uniforms similar to those worn by government forces and were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns mounted on vehicles, the report said, citing interviews with survivors of the attacks. People tried to flee, but "the assailants fired extensively and indiscriminately, using heavy weapons." Hundreds were reportedly killed. The UN report said that no evidence was found of any rebel activity in the area. Instead, it said, the violence appears to have been a coordinated campaign by the Sudanese government to drive out black Africans before the possible arrival of UN peacekeepers, with the assumption that international troops would simply maintain the status quo in the area. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said the Sudanese government almost certainly had prior knowledge of militia attacks and called for an investigation into the attacks. Sudanese Justice Minister Mohamed Ali al-Mardi told Reuters news agency that the report had not used reliable sources, adding that the government did not back one side against another in Darfur. The rising level of violence has also forced international aid agencies out of certain parts of the region. A recent clash between rebel factions in south Darfur that left up to 40 people dead prompted foreign aid workers to abandon Greida, one of the world's largest camps for displaced people. "Exchanges of fire lasted for three to four hours. It was only a mile from the town," said an official from one of several aid agencies which withdrew from Greida to Nyala, the regional capital. The agencies include Oxfam, Merlin and Action against Hunger. Only the International Committee of the Red Cross has stayed on in Greida to care for an estimated 130,000 homeless people who live in a vast camp beside the town. An Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) spokesman in the capital, Khartoum, accused the government of being behind the attack, suggesting relations are becoming frayed. Minni Minnawi, of the SLA faction, was recently appointed as special assistant to Sudan's president, but there have been other hints of political tension recently. The government denied the charge while local people in Greida insisted the Justice Equality Movement was behind the attacks. More than 200,000 people have died as a result of the three-year conflict in Darfur, and 2.5 million have been left homeless by the scorched earth campaign of ethnic cleansing.