Envoy Says World Needs to Help Darfur

[gottaB]

AL-FASHER, Sudan (AP) - The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations visited a displaced persons camp in the troubled Darfur region on Tuesday and sharply criticized Sudan, the United Nations, the U.S. administration and the international community for doing too little to stem the humanitarian crisis there.

Richard Holbrooke, traveling with U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine, a New Jersey Democrat, visited the Krinding camp near El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state.

"What we have seen is very moving, very disturbing, and there is an enormous amount that needs to be done still in the humanitarian area and beyond that," Holbrooke told reporters after the visit.

"I do not think that anyone involved, the Sudanese government, the United Nations, the international community, my own country, is yet doing enough," he said. "Everyone needs to do more. The core of this is a political problem and the humanitarian crisis will go on as long as the political issue is not resolved."

Envoy Says World Needs to Help Darfur....

[demon67]

1. Why does the UN remain opposed to intervention?

I have no idea.

[gottaB]

2. member states

Don't trust me to represent their positions. For some it's business, for others it''s power. It should have been possible for the US to coax and cajole its way to a stern resolution, but that's not happening. The UN will pass the responsibility to the African Union. Russia will continue to provide arms to the government of Sudan. China and France will continue to buy its oil. They will say that reports were mixed, that the government of Sudan took positive steps, and conditions were improving. If history shows them to be wrong, they will say they were misinformed and refuse to accept responsibility.

The African Union's peacekeeping initiative might be successful, but without the full support of Western powers, including logistics, finances and equipment, as well as a credible threat to intervene should the government of Sudan fail to honor its committments, the AU mission could well end in disaster.

And are conditions really improving? Perhaps in some ways. Definitely not in others. There's still violence committed by government and militia forces, high rates of malnutrition, a few epidemic diseases. More people are being fed, but official estimates of the number of people in need keep rising.

Here are some stories from the last few days.

• Women Want AU troops for Darfur
  
  
• Russia: time not ripe for UN sanctions on Sudan
  
  
• Hunger Sets Up Camp Among Sudanese Driven Out by Militias
  
  
• Corpse that points the finger of guilt
  
  
• Corpses betray the truth of Darfur as deadline passes (Several reporters were taken to the site of a massacre; both these versions are worth reading.)
  
  
• Darfur's displaced don't feel safe to return home
  
  
• Darfur still troubled as UN deadline runs out
  
  
• Hunger stalks Darfur's refugees. The implications of this story--a must read.
  
  

On edit, two more stories from csm:

• Outside camp walls, life still treacherous for Darfur refugees
  
  
• Sudan's key ties at the UN
  

The last one maybe answers your question directly. The first one explains why the lack of security which will be prominently noted in Pronk's report is not trivial. I don't know. I've read some of the reports from OCHA. Those reports seem especially concerned with violence against aid workers --which is proper, and a cause of concern for the UN. But for me the personal stories are compelling. (I also like reading the aid worker diaries from the beeb, msf etc.)

[struggle4progress]

3. kick

:kick: