Dafur Victims

updated May 2007

1. The Current Situation

UN Security Council Resolution 1706, passed on 31 August 2006, extended to Darfur the mandate of the UN mission in Sudan (UNMIS), which currently has 10,000 in-country personnel monitoring the North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The resolution "invited" Khartoum's consent to the deployment of 20,600 UN peacekeepers to the region – a consent which Khartoum refused to give. A reinforced UNMIS would take over from the African Union's (AU) currently overstretched African Mission in Sudan (AMIS). A compromise was reached in November 2006, which consisted of three phases of UN assistance to AMIS – a light support package, a heavy support package, and eventually a "hybrid" AU-UN force. On 16 April 2007 the Government in Sudan in Khartoum accepted the UN heavy support package – allowing up to 3,000 UN personnel in Darfur to assist the AU troops, as well as helicopters and armoured personnel carriers, and on 12 June 2007, they accepted the proposal for the AU-UN hybrid force. Despite these acceptances, there is much skepticism around whether the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) will allow timely implementation.

The security and human rights situation in Darfur has deteriorated since Sudan’s government and one of three rebel factions signed the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) on 5 May 2006. Conflict has intensified, with further government reliance on aerial bombardment and on its allied – and "re-supplied and rearmed", according to the AU Ceasefire Commission – Janjaweed militia. Aid agencies warned that attacks by armed groups had destabilised the region further in December 2006 and forced the evacuation of up to 400 staff, while up to 100 were killed and thousands displaced after mid-February 2007 tribal clashes in South Darfur. With support from Chad and Eritrea, elements of the rebel groups that did not sign the DPA regrouped as the National Redemption Front (NRF) and since late June 2006 have launched a series of attacks. UN Special Envoy Jan Pronk was expelled from Sudan after making comments noting that the Sudan Armed Forces was suffering from defeats and low morale. The lone rebel signatory of the DPA – the Sudan Liberation Army faction of Minni Minnawi (SLA/MM) – has been increasingly acting as a paramilitary wing of the Sudanese army. Internal displacement continues, with more than 250,000 more internally displaced persons registered in January 2007 than a year previously. Violence against women has surged, with more than 200 instances of sexual assault in five weeks around Kalma camp in South Darfur alone in September/October 2006. April 2007 was the bloodiest month for AMIS since 2004 deployment, with seven soldiers killed. The human security consequences of the Darfur conflict have extended well beyond its borders with hundreds killed in the east of neighbouring Chad and another 120,000 displaced.

The international community must think creatively to secure a lasting settlement. More peacekeepers on the ground and an effective ceasefire are essential but so is revitalising the neglected political process. This should be done through a joint AU/UN mediation which needs to unify the rebels

NBLSA NIGERIA is working towards a strong coalition with other chapters in Africa so that the competent legal education required to be change manifest ..no matter how long it will take