Es Sallam, Sudan – European leaders called Sunday for new international sanctions on Sudan over its treatment of civilians in Darfur, where the new U.N. humanitarian chief warned that humanitarian efforts were at risk of collapse.
Humanitarian chief John Holmes said efforts to aid refugees could fail if the situation deteriorates and aid workers are prevented from doing their work. He spoke in a refugee camp on his first tour of Darfur since becoming the U.N.’s top humanitarian official. Some 45,000 people in the camp have taken refuge from the region’s spiraling violence.
“This humanitarian effort is fragile,” he said. “If the situation deteriorates, it could collapse.”
British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for a new U.N. resolution expanding sanctions against Sudan and said a no-fly zone over its Darfur region should be considered.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the suffering of people in Darfur is “unbearable” and that stronger sanctions against the Sudanese government for not stopping violence in the region should be considered.
“We need to get a new resolution in the United Nations which extends the sanctions regime,” Blair told reporters after a European Union summit.
Holmes said problems such as obstruction from Sudan’s government and insecurity on the ground have created an environment where “morale is fragile” and could push aid workers to pull out.
In need of aid are some 4 million people in Darfur, who the U.N. says have been caught in the midst of fighting among rebels, the government and the pro-government janjaweed.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million displaced in four years of fighting, and janjaweed Arab militias are accused of widespread atrocities against ethnic African civilians. The U.N. says the conflict has chased another 86,000 people from their homes so far this year and blames the vast majority of these new refugees on violence perpetrated by central Sudanese government forces or their allied janjaweed militias.
Es Sallam, the refugee camp visited by Holmes, is one of three camps near the town of El Fasher. It is overspilling with people, and aid workers are negotiating space for a fourth camp to meet the incoming flow of refugees. Holmes said people in the camp were not starving, and health conditions seemed decent.
“This shows the enormous humanitarian effort that has been made for three years,” he said, referring to the international aid effort in Darfur, which is the largest in the world with more than $1 billion spent and some 14,000 aid workers in the region.
Holmes had been turned away the day before by Sudanese military police when he tried to visit a refugee camp.
