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Letter to the Editor, Sunday Independent, 17th September
2006
Sir,
Unless Khartoum drops objections to a United Nations peacekeeping
force in Darfur, most if not all foreign aid organisations are likely
to pull out of Darfur, leaving its already devastated civilian population
further exposed and at risk, the UN’s aid chief warned this
week.
2.5 million people now languish in camps for displaced persons and
rely solely on overstretched aid agencies for survival. But aid
workers run ever-greater risks delivering food and urgent supplies
to the region, with 8 aid workers being killed during vicious lethal
attacks in July alone.
The case for the urgent deployment of a strong, mobile, fast-reacting
UN force in Darfur to protect civilians and keep aid channels open
is beyond dispute. Two weeks ago, the Security Council adopted Resolution
1706 asking the secretary-general to arrange for the rapid deployment
of the UN Mission in Sudan.
But Sudan is opposing any UN involvement in peacekeeping, and has
vowed to emulate Hezbollah in Lebanon and smash any incoming force.
It has threatened to expel the African Union troops at the end of
September, and has renewed aerial bombing and has sent thousands
of troops to the region.
The beleaguered AU, although grossly outnumbered, ill-equipped,
under-funded, and outgunned, remain the only bulwark in Darfur to
prevent killings, rape and pillaging.
Darfur is in free fall and world powers must insist on deploying
UN peacekeepers there to avert a complete collapse. The question
is whether the US and other nations will act now to prevent further
tragedy in Darfur or merely express sorrow and act later to deal
with its aftermath.
Yours sincerely,
JOHN O’SHEA
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