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Severe fighting in western Sudan
The international community should pay more attention to continued clashes in western Sudan, the head of the United Nations refugee agency has said. Diplomats have described the fighting in Darfur as "ethnic cleansing" with Arab militias, possibly backed by the government, destroying entire villages.Prior to Turabiâs fall from grace in 2001, al-Qaeda fighters fought alongside the Sudanese military against the SPLA. The NYT and other sources reported that al-Qaeda training camps were being reopened in Sudan after the Riyadh bombings, implying that at least some kind of accomodations had been reached with the NIF government. There were also reports that a lot of al-Qaeda gold was being shipped to Sudan from Iran in August-September 2002. If al-Qaeda is back in good with General Bashar, these militias could be their handiwork. UNHCR chief Ruud Lubbers says some 500,000 people have fled their homes. The chaos there is in contrast to the situation in the south, where an end to 20 years of civil war is now in sight. Until the next cease-fire is broken, anyway ... "There is severe fighting there. There are people driven out of their houses," Mr Lubbers said. "It is a very dramatic problem and to be frank even the international community is not sufficiently aware." Mr Lubbers urged the Sudanese authorities to grant full access to humanitarian organisations. Not that the NIF is likely to listen to them ... Mr Lubbers is busy trying to prepare for the potential return of several million displaced people. It will be, he acknowledged, a huge task which will strain the regionâs shattered infrastructure. "The level of poverty and destruction in the south is very intense so even here we have a responsibility, sometimes to inform people maybe it is too early to go home," he said. Mr Lubbers met the leader of southern rebels John Garang to discuss logistics. Sounds like the Balkans all over again. I included this primarily due to the reference to Arab militias rather than government troops carrying out the ethnic cleansings because if al-Qaeda is back in business in Sudan it could easily be their handiwork as way of paying back the NIF for letting them operate in their country. Posted by: Dan Darling 2003-11-14 |
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