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Thursday, Jun 10, 2004

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A LOOMING CRISIS

THIS YEAR'S MONSOON might bring death on a terrible scale to the people of the Darfur region of Sudan already reeling under the malevolence of a ruling elite. Over a million people in this region are living in make-shift refugee camps while others are trapped in villages from which they cannot venture out to sow crops or mend irrigation canals. Another 100,000 or so have fled to neighbouring Chad, which does not have the resources to cater to their needs. About 30,000 are estimated to have died over the past year, many of them children afflicted by disease and malnutrition. That is only the beginning of a tragic story. International aid workers believe that as many as 300,000 could die even if convoys bearing food and medical supplies are able to penetrate this area over the next three months. If aid does not get through, the death toll could be as high as three million, according to some estimates. The first rains have fallen and once the monsoon hits with full vigour, transportation will become very difficult and, worse, water sources will get polluted, rendering outbreak of epidemics a real risk. While the United Nations has initiated an emergency relief programme and asked member-states for over $200 million in aid, the international community can only hope that the dire prediction will turn out to be way off.

The international community failed to address this looming tragedy until recently because it was preoccupied with developments in another part of Sudan. With the signing in May of a treaty to end a civil war between the Arab Muslim-dominated government and an African Christian-Animist secessionist movement in the south, there was hope that the Sudanese would put 42 years of strife behind them. This treaty gives the people of southern Sudan a measure of autonomy and an opportunity to share the benefits from the region's vast mineral wealth. Given the desire to preserve this fragile peace, the international community wrongly concluded that it should overlook the depredations carried out in the west of the country by forces loyal to the Khartoum Government. Independent observers have accused the Sudanese army of actively supporting an Arab militia, called the Janjaweed, that has let loose a reign of terror in Darfur. The U.N. High Commission for Refugees has endorsed their findings that the militia massacred thousands of African Muslims in Darfur and has besieged hundreds of villages, thereby restraining the inmates from venturing out to secure food. Khartoum insists that the people of Darfur rebelled in order to acquire a slice of the peace dividend and are primarily responsible for the atrocities. Such an outrageously insensitive response negates the Sudan Government's claim that it will be more inclusive in its approach to governance.

While human rights groups have demanded that Sudanese authorities be punished for crimes against humanity, the provision of relief must be treated as the far more pressing need. Khartoum removed, under international pressure, some of the restrictions it had imposed on the flow of humanitarian assistance. However, it continues to obstruct aid efforts by limiting the number of relief workers and peace monitors that it will allow into the country. Many of those outraged by the conditions in Darfur have called for the imposition of economic sanctions on Sudan. However, such a policy might prove counterproductive. Instead, the international community should do all that it can to persuade Khartoum to rein in the Janjaweed and ease the restrictions on relief organisations. Countries such as India, which have cordial relations with Sudan, must contribute to these efforts.

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