The UN began a three-day fact-finding mission in troubled Darfur yesterday to establish whether the Sudanese government has fulfilled its pledges to improve security and rein in Arab militia accused of months of atrocities.
Three UN teams, accompanied by Sudanese government officials, will fan out across the western region, before presenting their assessment to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Aug. 31.
PHOTO: AP
The UN Security Council has threatened Khartoum with penalties if it doesn't make sufficient progress in disarming Arab militiamen, known as janjaweed, accused of killing and maiming black African farmers and burning villages across Darfur.
"We are coming very close to the moment of assessment. The clock is ticking," said UN special representative Jan Pronk at a news conference in the Sudanese capital Wednesday.
"The responsibility is for the authorities in Khartoum not only to make promises but to implement the promises, and to show that it does make sense to continue on this road. If not, the international community has to consider what is necessary," he said.
The UN says Darfur has become the scene of the world's worst humanitarian crisis since African rebels rose against the government in February last year, claiming discrimination in the distribution of scarce resources.
International rights groups have accused the government of arming the janjaweed to crush the revolt -- an accusation it denies, although last week the UN said Khartoum acknowledged it has "control" over some fighters.
On Aug. 10, the Sudanese government and the UN signed an action plan to create havens in Darfur within 30 days so civilians can search for food and water and farm without fear of attack.
The plan requires the cessation of all military operations by government forces, militias, and rebel groups in areas around camps where thousands of displaced people have taken refuge, as well as near towns and villages that still have large populations.
"The visits aim to check the implementation of these commitments," Radhia Achouri, spokesperson for the UN Mission in Sudan, told reporters.
"The most crucial part of this is to demonstrate an irreversible, substantial and sustainable improvement of security in the areas selected by the government of Sudan," she said.
She said the Security Council was scheduled to meet to consider Pronk's report on Sept. 2.
Pronk, accompanied by Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail, will head the team in Geneina, West Darfur. UN deputy humanitarian coordinator Erick De Mul will visit Al-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur, while deputy special representative Manuel Aranda Da Silva will visit the south.
All three plan to check on conditions and humanitarian access to some of the 147 camps for displaced people. The UN says about 1.4 million people have been driven from their homes and are now in some 147 camps throughout Darfur's three states, while another 180,000 Darfur refugees have fled into neighboring Chad.
At African Union-brokered peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, a government delegate on Wednesday modified Sudan's previous rejection of an international peacekeeping force for Darfur. He said the government had no objections to an African Union force.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS