DISASTER IN DARFUR - UCSB Department of History - University of ...

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24 negotiations was the complete lack of credibility for the GoS--their legacy of too many agreements dishonored. On the 30 August Kofi Annan dutifully submitted his report required by Resolution 1556 in which he concluded that the GoS had "not met its obligation" to stop "attacks against civilians and ensuring their protection." [Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraph 6 and 13 to 16 of Security Council Resolution 1556 (2004)]. If the military and diplomatic initiatives remained dismal, a greater humanitarian effort began to reach many more IDPs and refugees despite the rains that have made the roads impassible requiring that food, medicines, and supplies be transported by air or special all-weather vehicles. In July some 950,000 IDPs, out of an estimated 1,227,000, received some food assistance, and over 200,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad were assisted by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), governmental agencies, specifically the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that has contributed $212 million by September 2004, and the fifty-six NGOs operating in Darfur. By September there were over 3,700 international and national aid workers in Darfur who now had greater access to rebel held areas from which they had previously been excluded, and a convoy of twenty trucks carrying 440 tones of wheat flour arrived at Bahai on the Darfur border having crossed 1,700 miles (2,800 km) of the Sahara Desert from Benghazi and thence over the Ennedi Plateau on the old caravan route established in 1811, but only half of the $531 million needed for the United Nations Response for food aid has been provided. During the summer the GoS could no longer fail to respond to the mounting international pressure to ease its restrictions on the humanitarian NGOs, but Darfur is an isolated region and Khartoum infamous for its Byzantine regulations and
25 bureaucracy that was the reality the Western humanitarian agencies had to contend with despite the rhetoric of cooperation that poured forth from the government media. In fact, the hardliners in Khartoum frequently pointed out that only four of the fifty-six registered NGOs were Islamic, the remainder composed of crusaders determined to convert the Muslims of Darfur into Christians. Prevarications and Genocide Although the GoS had received a thirty day reprieve from Resolution 1556, presumably to act on the demands from the UN, its response was more smoke and mirrors than constructive efforts to curb the marauding janjaweed. During the spring and summer the GoS had repeatedly denied that it had any control or even influence over the janjaweed, but during the discussions in the JIM during August the government had to accept the overwhelming evidence that the militia had been trained, armed, and supplied by the army including those janjaweed who had not been incorporated into the PDF. Moreover, the killing, rape, and pillage had not stopped. The flood of reports from UN monitors and its humanitarian personnel, NGO staffs, and Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch could not be ignored. During the latter half of August the janjaweed, operating sometimes from government camps and supported by its armed forces, continued the destruction of Darfur and its inhabitants. Villages in the Yassin area northeast of Nyala were destroyed and their inhabitants slaughtered during a week of razzia (raid) while further to the west near El Geneina in the Nertiti area and at Masteri those IDPs, of whom there were 30,000, who ventured from the insecurity of their camp were regularly assaulted when leaving as part of "the consistent and widespread pattern of atrocities (killings, rapes, burning of villages) committed by the jinjaweid and
Page 1 and 2: 1 8,414 words; 29 pages DISASTER IN
Page 3 and 4: 3 the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium (1
Page 5 and 6: 5 they rigorously administered, eff
Page 7 and 8: 7 accompanied by the creation of th
Page 9 and 10: 9 the National Congress) government
Page 11 and 12: 11 on “gangsters” and “highwa
Page 13 and 14: 13 hundreds wounded, but tens of th
Page 15 and 16: 15 systematic denied access [emphas
Page 17 and 18: 17 2004] His UN humanitarian coordi
Page 19 and 20: 19 Despite the fact that both sides
Page 21 and 22: 21 Human Rights: Situation of Human
Page 23: 23 logistical support, diplomatical
Page 27 and 28: 27 Having assessed the work of the
Page 29: 29 Ministry, declared on state-run

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