25/2/2005
World Must Act Now On Darfur, Says UN Relief Head

Jan Engleland, the top United Nations relief official, gave an impassioned news briefing in New York this week on the subject of Darfur, painting a picture of an ever deepening humanitarian crisis that was beginning to overwhelm the aid community. At the same time he implied there were little real signs of a political or security solution that might halt the tide of death and destruction and the fast rising numbers of displaced people.

Comparing Darfur with previous crises in Bosnia, Kosovo and Rwanda he said that humanitarian aid could not be a substitute for necessary political and security action. "Relief aid is not enough. The Security Council has to act. The safe zone of Bosnia and many other historic examples show us that humanitarians are good at putting plaster on a wound but if you don't heal the wound, many, many more people will die."

He said that insecurity was also preventing humanitarian groups from reaching those in need. "We are very afraid of the security of our workers in the field….armed men in the militias are getting away with murder of women and children and it is still happening and those who direct these militias are also getting away with murder. Eight workers have been killed, our helicopters have been shot at, our trucks are being looted there, we are paralysed," Mr. Egeland added. "We could have provided daily bread for more than 2 million people. We are at best giving to 1.5 million people. This cannot continue as now."

Over the past year the number of people who have fled their homes has doubled to almost two million and the figure is growing every day. "Some are predicting 3 million, some are predicting 4 million, some are predicting more than that of people in desperate need of life-saving assistance as we approach the hunger gap in mid-year…whose lives will be at stake." He called for a four- or five-fold increase in the African Union (AU) monitoring force in Darfur, now numbering between 1,800 to 1,900; more pressure on the Government, the rebels, ethnic and local leaders "who take those positions that lead to massive killing of women and children;" and robust mediation.

"We did prevent the massive famine that many predicted, but I think now it's time to say we may perhaps not be able to do so in the coming months if the situation keeps on deteriorating as it has," he said, calling for a tsunami-style increase in relief. "Our staff on the ground are really working around the clock and are burning themselves out faster than anywhere else that I've seen in recent memory," he added.