'Unimaginable suffering' now gripping Darfur

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/16/wdarfur16.xml

More than four years after civil war erupted in Darfur, forcing at least two million people to flee their homes, Oxfam will launch a new appeal today to alleviate the "unimaginable" suffering in this arid region of western Sudan.

The "Darfur and Chad Emergency Appeal" reflects how the conflict has spread across borders. A war which began in Darfur has also engulfed neighbouring Chad, where renewed fighting has displaced at least 100,000 in the last year alone.

"The level of suffering continues on an almost unimaginable scale," said Oxfam. "Intensifying violence is forcing people to stay in cramped, makeshift camps. Living conditions are desperate and dangerous."

At present, Oxfam is providing about 500,000 people with clean water and sanitation. Hundreds of refugee camps - the largest of which has 90,000 inhabitants - are now scattered across the rugged terrain of Darfur and Eastern Chad, on the southern fringe of the Sahara.

Fighting between Khartoum's Arab-dominated regime and Darfur's black African rebels has forced some two million people to flee their villages on the Sudanese side of the frontier. Eastern Chad now holds another 330,000 refugees.

In all, about one third of Darfur's entire population has been displaced and the death toll, including those killed by disease or starvation, may be as high as 300,000.

The war is by far the biggest in Africa and ranks among the bloodiest in the world.

Food, clean water and sanitation are the most urgent humanitarian needs in the camps. Oxfam specialises in water provision and has worked in Darfur since the onset of the crisis. "This work is keeping people alive," said the aid agency. "We need your support to reach the thousands more who desperately need our help."

Western governments have tried to deploy a United Nations' peacekeeping force in Darfur with a mandate to use force in order to protect civilians. Last year, the Security Council passed Resolution 1706, providing for 17,300 troops to go to the region.

Sudan's regime, however, accused the UN of plotting to "re-colonise" the country and adamantly rejected any outside interference.

Last November, Hilary Benn, the international development secretary, helped broker a compromise under which the UN would form a peacekeeping force jointly with the African Union (AU), an alliance of all 53 countries on the continent.

Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's president, signed this deal - and then ignored it. A last-ditch diplomatic effort is now being mounted to persuade Sudan to accept a joint UN-AU force instead.

Britain and America's first reaction was to press for punitive sanctions on Sudan, but they have now agreed to delay for another four weeks while Ban Ki-moon, the UN's new secretary-general, tries to reach agreement with the country's military dictator.

Mr Bashir's record, however, shows that he is willing to ignore any deal. Moreover, no one knows how a joint UN-AU peacekeeping force would work in practice.

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