Annan warns Sudan leaders
Saturday, 09 Sep 2006 10:04
Darfur, the vast western region of Sudan, is the scene of current instability
UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has said that Sudanese leaders who do not act to prevent the Darfur region's continuing atrocities and widespread humanitarian crises will be "collectively and individually" held to account for their failings.
His comments come as an attempt to increase pressure on the Khartoum government, which is currently expressing reservations about the planned deployment of 17,000 UN peacekeeping troops to the region.
Mr Annan said that the Sudanese leaders "are placing themselves in a situation where the leadership may be held collectively and individually responsible for what happens to the population in Darfur".
International concern over the welfare of Darfur's population follows the Sudanese government's use of the janjaweed militia, a group of Arab fighters whose tactics of burning whole villages and raping and murdering the inhabitants have been utterly condemned by the outside world.
Throughout the summer government-supported attacks on rebel groups in the region have intensified, seeing a return to the levels of violence first encountered during the initial stages of the conflict in 2003.
Last week the African Union (AU) force of 7,000 troops said it would leave the region, heightening anxiety that the Sudan government's plans to crush rebel resistance would leave many more killed or displaced.
The UN estimates that "scores of thousands of people are thought to have been killed amid fighting between rebel groups", while at least two million others have become refugees in fear of their lives.