Beshir: Sudan wants no UN troops in Darfur

November 23 2006 at 11:46AM

Khartoum - Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir told Britain and the United Nations that he still rejects the deployment of UN troops in war-torn Darfur, the state-run Suna news agency reported Thursday.

The agency said Beshir spoke by phone with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair late on Wednesday.

Beshir "stressed Sudan's rejection of any UN forces or UN command for the African Union (AU) forces in Darfur," SUNA said.

The discussions looked at how the UN could assist AU forces on the ground, it added.

The UN Security Council in August adopted a resolution calling for the deployment of 20 000 UN peacekeepers to replace an ill-equipped and under-funded AU contingent in Sudan's troubled western region.

Beshir consistently opposed such a plan, but Annan said last week that Sudan had accepted a "hybrid force" comprising forces from both the UN and the AU.

Khartoum denied it had accepted a deal for a joint AU-UN command and said it would only tolerate assistance to AU forces from UN technical units.

Blair warned on Wednesday that this compromise solution could be Khartoum's last chance to avoid sanctions.

"If the government (of Sudan) does not seize this opportunity then we will have to look at tougher measures," he said.

Annan said on Wednesday he was awaiting a letter from Beshir clariying Sudan's position on the proposal for a joint AU-UN peacekeeping operation.

The war in Darfur erupted in February 2003 when rebels from minority tribes took up arms to demand an equal share of national resources, prompting a heavy-handed crackdown from government forces and a proxy militia called the Janjaweed.

At least 200 000 people have since died from the combined effects of fighting, famine and disease, according to the UN. Some sources say the toll is much higher.

- Sapa-AFP

Aid worker tells of migrant ordeal

Austin Wainwright, a worker with the Spanish Red Cross, describes helping African migrants who arrive in the Canary Islands after days at sea in small boats.

The basic story most of the people tell is that they would rather die trying to make it to Europe than to stay in their country.

They say they have no future, because work is very scarce and they need to feed their families. They think life will be easy here if they can get a job. They say they are doing what any father or brother would do to protect his family.

To get here from Mauritania takes about four to six days. From Senegal it can be two weeks, more if they get lost. In one case it was about 20 days.

Most come in open wooden boats. One we had this morning was carrying 98 people, though there have been up to 170.

There is no shelter, except sometimes a plastic tarpaulin stretched over part of the boat. They are packed in with no room to stretch out. There are no cooking facilities - or only a small stove - and no bathroom, just a bucket.

Infections

Some have nasty salt sores caused by wet clothing rubbing continuously for many, many days.

Some have nasty infected wounds, which can be caused by something as small as a splinter. They may be suffering from hypothermia or dehydration.

We provide humanitarian and medical aid, either at the harbour at Los Cristianos, or on the beach.

We provide clothing kits, containing a track suit, a T-shirt, socks, shoes, underwear and a blanket. Also water, hot drinks, biscuits. Some people have not drunk for two days. Others say they have gone five or six days without eating, or even 10 days.

We have a pneumatic field hospital where we provide pre-hospital treatment. In some cases the migrants are hospitalised.


We have seen grown men start crying or kissing the ground when they finally touch land. It is unlikely they knew in advance how long and dangerous the journey would be. A lot of them cannot actually swim. We have had boats arriving with dead bodies on board.

Savings

On the other hand, they often know they are going to face problems. They are met by police on the quayside, or on the beach. In some cases they are intercepted by naval boats, or Guardia Civil patrol boats.

There was one case recently where someone said: "We have seen this one before." I think he was from Senegal. He had been here about three months previously, and had reappeared.


They originate from Mali, Mauritania, Gambia, Ghana, Morocco - anywhere in West Africa.

About 99% are male. We have seen thousands of people here in Tenerife, and only about 10 of them have been women.

Women are more likely to travel to Fuerteventura, even pregnant women, or to the southern coast of Spain. About 5-10% are minors. This morning we had a boy of 12.

They don't tell us about money, but we think they sometimes come in organised groups, paying 500 or 600 euros per person, which for them is probably about six months' or a year's savings.

Stress

When they have recovered they are taken to the police headquarters for questioning, where they may stay for 72 hours.

They can be held in internment centres for up to 40 days, and from there they are sent to the mainland, or released, or sent back to their country of origin.


In March there were just three of us, but now I am responsible for two teams of five people.

It's extremely stressful, especially taking someone off a boat in a body bag - someone who has died trying to help his family. It makes you think how lucky we are, here in Europe.

On the other hand, it is extremely rewarding to be able to help somebody in these conditions - to provide water or a hot drink. We have volunteers, some of whom work with us all night, then go to work the next day without sleeping.

Darfur's silent killer

I have not eaten now for over 48 hours due to sickness and diarrhoea. It has left me feeling exhausted and extremely grumpy - those around me would confirm this in an instant. I have been taking antibiotics and drinking plenty of water and flat cola, none of which seems to be having any positive effect with my stomach still feeling like it holds bubbling toxic lava.

It has been a more than unpleasant past two days, yet as much as I have complained, I feel I am in no position to do so.

Chronic sickness and diarrhoea is a common problem in Darfur, especially in the camps for IDPs (internally displaced people).

Aid workers here speculate that in some camps as many as one in five children suffer from sickness and diarrhoea at any one time. They focus on the children because for them diarrhoea in these conditions can be a very serious problem.

It means children are left even more weak and vulnerable than they would be usually - what little nutrition they are getting, their meagre bodies are not absorbing.

In Camp Al-Salaam, just outside Nyala, South Darfur, eight children were reported to have died from chronic diarrhoea within the last month.

On a recent visit to Camp Otash, also on the outskirts of Nyala, the dangers of diarrhoea became only too apparent.

I came across a little boy named Hawa Abdullah. Hawa (pictured here) is six years old but could well pass for much younger. When I met him his wrists were, without exaggeration, as thin as my thumb. His skin hung off his arms, so flaccid it seemed as though he had no muscle at all.

The mass of flies swarming around his face didn't bother him. He barely moved, could barely breathe and was so exhausted he could hardly keep his eyes from shutting. His body just hung in his mother's arms.

His sickness meant he was severely malnourished. He had been eating - not much, but enough to keep a child of his age alive. The problem was that everything was going straight through him.

Had he not been found by aid workers, I have no doubt he would now be dead.

"I wonder how many other Hawas there are out there?" one aid worker remarked to me as the boy was taken off for further treatment.

Of the 2.5 million people uprooted by the conflict in Darfur around 700,000 are estimated to be children. But any speculation of the percentage with sickness and diarrhoea would be nothing but a wild guess.

Bugging me right now isn't just how many children are ill, but also how many will get the treatment they need to survive.