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Fighting In Darfur 'Threatens 3M Lives'
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 9-7-2006 | David Blair

Posted on 09/06/2006 6:25:10 PM PDT by blam

Fighting in Darfur 'threatens 3m lives'

By David Blair, Africa Correspondent

(Filed: 07/09/2006)

Three million lives will be at risk in Sudan's war-torn region of Darfur if renewed fighting sabotages the international relief effort, Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, said yesterday.

Kofi Annan says that the imminent withdrawal of the African Union soldiers puts the international relief operation in jeopardy

The warning came as the African Union, an alliance of 53 countries on the continent, confirmed it will withdraw its mission from the area.

Sudan's regime has told the union to remove its 5,000 soldiers and 2,000 civilian staff when their mandate expires at the end of this month. President Omar al-Bashir has also rejected a UN resolution calling for a peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Instead, Mr Bashir has launched an offensive against black African rebels involving tens of thousands of troops.

Mr Annan stressed the scale of the international aid operation now under way in Darfur.

At least 1.8 million people live in hundreds of squalid refugee camps dotted across the arid region.

More than one million others, who are unable to work or grow crops because of the fighting, also depend on food aid.

In total, about three million people, half of Darfur's population, are being kept alive by the international relief operation.

Mr Annan said that renewed fighting and the imminent withdrawal of the AU and Mr Bashir's veto of the peacekeeping force placed that operation in jeopardy.

"The international community has been helping about three million people in camps and elsewhere and if we have to leave because of lack of security, lack of access to the people, then what happens?" he said.

Large areas of Darfur are already closed to aid workers for days or weeks at a time.

The government's new offensive has rendered a swathe of Northern Darfur province inaccessible.

The latest fighting pits the regime's forces against elements of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army and other insurgents who refused to sign a failed peace agreement concluded in May. Relief workers doubt the ability of the Sudan regime to respond effectively in the security situation deteriorates further.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 3m; dafur; fighting; lives; threatens

1 posted on 09/06/2006 6:25:12 PM PDT by blam
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To: blam
Can Kofi Annan leave office fast enough? Bill Clinton's hand picked puppet will go down in history as the worst UN Secretary ever, and that is no easy feat!
2 posted on 09/06/2006 6:30:01 PM PDT by operation clinton cleanup
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To: blam
53 Countries (are there really that many!) in Africa wash their hands of it. Sounds like game over to me.
3 posted on 09/06/2006 8:11:00 PM PDT by NonValueAdded (Katherine Harris for US Senate!)
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To: blam
Why is the UN concerned? They haven't even claimed genocide has occurred. They currently only suspect that war crimes may have occurred.

What a useless organization. How many millions of more people have to die before people realize the UN for what it really is: an organization to prop up human rights abusers and dictators.
4 posted on 09/06/2006 8:31:31 PM PDT by burzum (Despair not! I shall inspire you by charging blindly on!--Minsc, BG2)
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