INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP – NEW RELEASE

World Leaders Must Act on Darfur

Brussels, 6 June 2004: The International Crisis Group urges G-8 leaders meeting in Sea Island, Georgia, on 8-10 June 2004 to push for immediate and strong action to protect hundreds of thousands of lives now at risk in Darfur in western Sudan.

In a letter (full text below) to heads of government and foreign ministers of the G-8 and the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and in a similar letter to the UN ambassadors of all fifteen members of the Security Council, ICG has called for determined international leadership to prevent the impending disaster in Darfur.

The crisis in Darfur has been developing over the past fifteen months, during which time government-backed militias have conducted a scorched-earth campaign in the region, killing many thousands of civilians and forcing over one million from their homes. The majority of the latter are in poorly-run government-controlled camps for internally displaced persons within Darfur, where they remain vulnerable to attack by the "Janjaweed" militias and have inadequate access to desperately needed relief supplies.

In the letter, ICG President Gareth Evans calls for a Security Council resolution demanding that Khartoum at once implement its promise to provide immediate and full access for aid operations, taking measures to stop further fighting and atrocities, and supporting political negotiations. It also asks the Council to start considering tough further measures to concentrate the Sudan Government’s attention.

The letter also requests G-8 Heads of Government to consider Darfur at Sea Island this week, and adopt a strong statement in their closing declaration making clear their determination to ensure that sufficient resources are available for relief of the victims of ethnic cleansing, that the relief will reach the victims, that the ethnic cleansing will not stand and that the Government of Sudan will be held accountable.

The time for action by world leaders is now. Hundreds of thousands of lives are already at risk and every week’s delay has ever more deadly consequences.

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To find out more about the Darfur crisis, go to our Darfur page (http://www.crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=2700&l=1). This page has details of ICG's reports and opinion pieces on the conflict, details of our advocacy efforts to date, information on what you can do to support ICG's efforts, and links to ther resources on the conflict.

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Contacts: Andrew Stroehlein (Brussels) 32 (0) 485 555 946
Jennifer Leonard (Washington) 1-202-785 1601
To contact ICG media please click here

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2 June 2004

[To Heads of Government and Foreign Ministers of the G-8 and permanent members of the UN Security Council]

I am writing to urge your Government to use its position on the Security Council and as a member of the G8 to push for immediate and strong action to protect hundreds of thousands of lives now at risk in Darfur in western Sudan. If the promises of the international community since the Rwandan genocide a decade ago are to have meaning, the international community must act now to protect these people.

The crisis in Darfur has been developing over the past fifteen months, during which time government-backed militias have conducted a scorched-earth campaign in the region, killing many thousands of civilians and forcing over one million from their homes. The majority of the latter are in poorly-run government-controlled camps for internally displaced persons within Darfur, where they remain vulnerable to attack by the "Janjaweed" militias and have inadequate access to relief supplies.

The international community must recognize that the Government of Sudan bears primary responsibility for this crisis. If that government fails to take immediate steps to rein in the militias and facilitate relief, the international community, through the Security Council and the G8, must make it clear it will act. As the Security Council has acknowledged in a Presidential Statement on 25 May, over the coming months, "hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of dying" from starvation and disease. More will die if the direct killing is not stopped.

The signing on 26 May 2004 of the last three protocols necessary for a peace agreement between the Government of Sudan and the southern SPLA rebel group will hopefully mark a turn from the past violence in the south, but this will require continued international monitoring and support to implement. However, this development does not in any way alter the real threat of massive numbers of dead in western Sudan if there are not fundamental changes in the policies of the Government of Sudan in Darfur, if international humanitarian access is not guaranteed to that region and if there is not movement toward a negotiated peace there as well. There is much that still can be done to try and avoid the worst consequences of the ethnic cleansing which already has occurred.

It is imperative that the Security Council, and the G8 at its 8 June Summit, build on the momentum generated by signing of the protocols. The opportunity exists -- if adequate leverage and leadership are exercised -- to bring that process to closure, to construct a similarly serious effort to resolve the political issues driving the Darfur crisis, and to create a diplomatic and military strategy to end the insurgency in Northern Uganda. All three objectives require international pressure on the Khartoum government.

The International Crisis Group believes that a rapid and robust international response is needed to address the humanitarian crisis in Darfur and its causes. Accordingly, we urge the Security Council to:

1. Prevent Starvation

The Security Council should pass a resolution demanding that Khartoum at once implement its promise to provide immediate and full access for aid operations. Time and again the Government has allowed full access only in response to multilateral, public pressure. As a last resort, if the government continues to manipulate humanitarian access in Darfur, more robust measures must be considered. The Security Council should authorize planning now for the deployment of military assets in support of the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

2. Stop Further Fighting and Atrocities

The Security Council should urge the deployment of additional observers to both monitor the ceasefire and provide protection for internally displaced populations that wish to return home, thus reversing the ethnic cleansing campaign. Sixty African Union observers are inadequate to cover a land mass the size of France. If government bombing recurs, a no-fly zone should be considered urgently by the Council, and if the Janjaweed militias are not neutralised, military force should be authorized to achieve this objective.

3. Press for Sustainable Peace

The momentum of last week's Naivasha signing should be built upon, with the Security Council supporting internationally facilitated political negotiations between government and rebels in Darfur. Concerted international attention is necessary to end once and for all the inter-related wars in the south and west of Sudan and in Northern Uganda.

4. Build Leverage for the Achievement of these Objectives

The Security Council should consider imposing targeted sanctions against officials in the government most responsible for the ethnic cleansing campaign, sending a high level panel to investigate the commission of war crimes in Darfur, deploying human rights monitors, and authorizing an arms embargo. Multilateral pressure is needed now if Khartoum is going to move on the peace and humanitarian access fronts.

In addition to your support for Security Council action, ICG requests that you place Darfur on the agenda at Sea Island and ensure that the G-8 adopt a strong statement in their closing declaration reflecting their determination to ensure that sufficient resources are available for relief of the victims of ethnic cleansing, that the relief will reach the victims, that the ethnic cleansing will not stand and that the Government of Sudan will be held accountable.

As the UN itself has noted, Darfur represents the most acute humanitarian crisis in the world today. ICG urges you to act immediately to prevent possibly hundreds of thousands of deaths over the coming months.

Yours sincerely,

GARETH EVANS

President, International Crisis Group