The star Online
Thursday, November 30, 2006
The United Nations' humanitarian chief has warned that conflicts in Sudan's Darfur region, Chad and Central African Republic could become one big regional conflict.
Jan Egeland said yesterday that violence in the three countries was "now intimately interlinked".
"In all of the three countries there are fighters from the other countries crossing the border, seeking refugees on each other's sides," he said.
Egeland said the government of each African nation was involved to some degree in aiding rebel forces in neighbouring countries in the false belief that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".
"That's a fallacy really. What you are creating is long-term chaos for yourself and a lot of suffering for your own citizens and for your neighbours."
Egeland said such cross- border fighting was "one of Africa's biggest diseases".
The government in Chad has repeatedly accused Sudan of supporting Chadian rebels, and Sudan makes similar accusations against Chad. Rebels in Central African Republic, which also shares a border with Darfur, also have stepped up attacks in recent months.
Chad's parliament recently voted to allow Chad to send troops to help Central African Republic fight its rebels, and Chad's prime minister accused Sudan of helping the Central African Republic rebels.
"Fighters attack Chad from Darfur. Others attack Darfur and Sudan from Chad. And they all seek refuge in Central African Republic. It's a really dangerous regional crisis," said Egeland, head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The spread of violence in the region could have been stopped with a Darfur cease-fire agreement in early 2004, but a lack of understanding on the part of all parties prevented this, Egeland added.
"It's very easy to start a war; it's very difficult to end it, especially if you have a lot of actors involved," he said.
Directing criticism at those countries which have opposed greater international involvement in Darfur, Egeland said there was ample evidence that the situation was deteriorating.
He singled out African, Arab and those Asian countries who are Sudan's economic partners for doing "too little, too late".
A UN Human Rights Council resolution telling the Sudanese government to prosecute those responsible for killing, raping and injuring civilians in Darfur was rejected by 22-20 votes on Tuesday.
Instead, the council accepted a proposal from African countries, supported by Muslim nations, that called on all parties in the conflict to end human rights violations.
The weaker resolution came after heavy lobbying from the Sudanese government, which invited ambassadors from African countries to visit Darfur days before the council resumed work.
"Those who go from Geneva and elsewhere on guided tours, invited by the government, are not seeing the full picture," Egeland said. "They are not meeting our aid workers, who are being harassed, who are seeing their cars hijacked every single week. And they obviously do not meet the raped women and the abused civilians. They do not see the true picture." - Sapa-AFP