International response to Sudan ‘too little, too late’ churches told
-18/11/04
As Kofi
International response to Sudan ‘too little, too late’ churches told
-18/11/04
As Kofi Annan called on the UN security council to issue “the strongest warning” to forces fighting in Sudan to bring an end to the civil war in the south and the crisis in the western Darfur region, a humanitarian relief coordinator for the UN has told churches that the international response to Sudan has been “too little, too late”.
Jan Egeland, the Humanitarian Relief coordinator for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spoke at a public seminar organised as part of the World Council of Churches (WCC) international affairs and advocacy week at the UN in New York.
The UN security council is due tomorrow to adopt a new resolution on Sudan with human rights groups calling for a tough line, such as imposing an arms embargo or threatening sanctions against Sudan’s government.
A draft of the resolution promises financial and political support for any peace agreements in Sudan, but members had yet to agree on whether to threaten sanctions or take other actions against parties that violate ceasefires or obstruct aid agencies.
The outgoing US secretary of state, Colin Powell, has called the violence in Darfur genocide and in September accused four security council members – China, Russia, Algeria and Pakistan – of valuing business with Sudan over humanitarian concerns. All four abstained from an 11-0 vote to set up a commission to investigate the charges of genocide against Sudan.
But Ernie Regehr of the WCC’s Churches Commission on International Affairs (CCIA) said; “The threshold for intervention should not be the declaration of genocide. Humanitarian relief and intervention actions should happen much before the situation arrives at that level of crisis.”
Oxfam have said that the situation on the ground is worsening with banditry rife, putting 200,000 people at risk from lack of food and water. The aid agency says that road ambushes are common across the region, forcing it to airlift supplies into five towns by helicopter.
“Moral outrage and fear everywhere” define the current situation in Sudan, Jan Egeland told church leaders in New York.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, John Danforth, called the meeting of the UN security council in Nairobi to give security council members a chance to meet with experts working to end the fighting and suffering in the Darfur region, as well as those hoping to clinch a peace deal in southern Sudan.
Seminar moderator Shirley deWolf, a member of the WCC’s Churches Commission on International Affairs (CCIA) Commission, emphasized the importance of building the capacity of churches and church leaders who are currently doing the peacemaking, and who will remain in the countries long after the aid agencies have gone.
Panellist ÿrnulf Steen, general secretary of the Christian Council of Norway and a member of the Sudan Ecumenical Forum, concurred that capacity-building is as critical to achieving lasting peace as it is for the ongoing work of reconciliation. The Forum was created in 1994 to provide a shared platform for advocacy between the churches of the Sudan and partner churches, church-related agencies and ecumenical councils in Africa, Europe and North America. Combined with the efforts of councils of churches in Sudan and of the All Africa Conference of Churches, it is an important tool for peace-building in Sudan, he said.
“Women and children suffer disproportionately in Sudan’s crisis, and the deep levels of abuse and trauma they have experienced will not be addressed by a written peace agreement signed in a distant city. Churches must think about how to address this issue,” commented another panellist, Rev. John McCullough, executive director of Church World Service.
“The humanitarian work of saving people drowning in a river is normally not controversial. The political response – sending people upstream to find out who is throwing people into the river, understand why this is happening, and develop a constructive answer – can be more controversial,” WCC/CCIA director Peter Weiderud suggested to participants at an afternoon seminar session on the work of advocacy in crisis.
The southern war has pitted Sudan’s Muslim government against rebels seeking better treatment and a greater share of the country’s wealth. The conflict has killed more than two million people, largely through war-induced hunger and disease.
The separate conflict in western Sudan started in February 2003, when two non-Arab African rebel groups took up arms for a greater share of power and resources. The government responded by backing Arab militias, who are accused to targeting civilians.
The conflict in the west has driven 1.8 million people from their homes, and at least 70,000 people have died since March in the region because of disease, hunger and hardships.
International response to Sudan ‘too little, too late’ churches told
-18/11/04
As Kofi Annan called on the UN security council to issue “the strongest warning” to forces fighting in Sudan to bring an end to the civil war in the south and the crisis in the western Darfur region, a humanitarian relief coordinator for the UN has told churches that the international response to Sudan has been “too little, too late”.
Jan Egeland, the Humanitarian Relief coordinator for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spoke at a public seminar organised as part of the World Council of Churches (WCC) international affairs and advocacy week at the UN in New York.
The UN security council is due tomorrow to adopt a new resolution on Sudan with human rights groups calling for a tough line, such as imposing an arms embargo or threatening sanctions against Sudan’s government.
A draft of the resolution promises financial and political support for any peace agreements in Sudan, but members had yet to agree on whether to threaten sanctions or take other actions against parties that violate ceasefires or obstruct aid agencies.
The outgoing US secretary of state, Colin Powell, has called the violence in Darfur genocide and in September accused four security council members – China, Russia, Algeria and Pakistan – of valuing business with Sudan over humanitarian concerns. All four abstained from an 11-0 vote to set up a commission to investigate the charges of genocide against Sudan.
But Ernie Regehr of the WCC’s Churches Commission on International Affairs (CCIA) said; “The threshold for intervention should not be the declaration of genocide. Humanitarian relief and intervention actions should happen much before the situation arrives at that level of crisis.”
Oxfam have said that the situation on the ground is worsening with banditry rife, putting 200,000 people at risk from lack of food and water. The aid agency says that road ambushes are common across the region, forcing it to airlift supplies into five towns by helicopter.
“Moral outrage and fear everywhere” define the current situation in Sudan, Jan Egeland told church leaders in New York.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, John Danforth, called the meeting of the UN security council in Nairobi to give security council members a chance to meet with experts working to end the fighting and suffering in the Darfur region, as well as those hoping to clinch a peace deal in southern Sudan.
Seminar moderator Shirley deWolf, a member of the WCC’s Churches Commission on International Affairs (CCIA) Commission, emphasized the importance of building the capacity of churches and church leaders who are currently doing the peacemaking, and who will remain in the countries long after the aid agencies have gone.
Panellist ÿrnulf Steen, general secretary of the Christian Council of Norway and a member of the Sudan Ecumenical Forum, concurred that capacity-building is as critical to achieving lasting peace as it is for the ongoing work of reconciliation. The Forum was created in 1994 to provide a shared platform for advocacy between the churches of the Sudan and partner churches, church-related agencies and ecumenical councils in Africa, Europe and North America. Combined with the efforts of councils of churches in Sudan and of the All Africa Conference of Churches, it is an important tool for peace-building in Sudan, he said.
“Women and children suffer disproportionately in Sudan’s crisis, and the deep levels of abuse and trauma they have experienced will not be addressed by a written peace agreement signed in a distant city. Churches must think about how to address this issue,” commented another panellist, Rev. John McCullough, executive director of Church World Service.
“The humanitarian work of saving people drowning in a river is normally not controversial. The political response – sending people upstream to find out who is throwing people into the river, understand why this is happening, and develop a constructive answer – can be more controversial,” WCC/CCIA director Peter Weiderud suggested to participants at an afternoon seminar session on the work of advocacy in crisis.
The southern war has pitted Sudan’s Muslim government against rebels seeking better treatment and a greater share of the country’s wealth. The conflict has killed more than two million people, largely through war-induced hunger and disease.
The separate conflict in western Sudan started in February 2003, when two non-Arab African rebel groups took up arms for a greater share of power and resources. The government responded by backing Arab militias, who are accused to targeting civilians.
The conflict in the west has driven 1.8 million people from their homes, and at least 70,000 people have died since March in the region because of disease, hunger and hardships.