Sudan: The world's largest humanitarian operation on the verge of collapse

SUDAN: Risk of humanitarian disaster in Darfur - UN official [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KHARTOUM, 29 August (IRIN) - The world's largest humanitarian operation in the western Sudanese region of Darfur is on the verge of collapse due to escalating violence, a United Nations humanitarian official warned on Monday.

"Insecurity is at its highest level since 2004, access at its lowest levels since that date and we may well be on the brink of a return to all-out war," the Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland, told the UN Security Council on Monday.

"Our entire humanitarian operation in Darfur - the only lifeline for more than three million people - is presently at risk," he added.

If aid workers are forced to withdraw from Darfur, Egeland warned, the troubled region would experience a man-made catastrophe of an unprecedented scale that could result in "hundreds of thousands of deaths".

Progress in improving health, education, nutrition and water and sanitation for scores of war-affected people over the past two years could all be lost within weeks, not months, he added.

Since the signing of the 5 May Darfur Peace Agreement between the Sudanese government and one of the three main rebel groups, fighting has escalated between signatories and non-signatories to the peace deal. In recent weeks, as many as 50,000 people have been displaced across the region, while nine humanitarian aid workers were killed and 20 vehicles hijacked in July.

As a result, access to the affected population is at its lowest level since the start of the conflict in 2003.

The World Health Organization has reported that 40 percent of the population in North Darfur State are not receiving health care, while vaccinations have dropped from 90 percent in 2005 to a mere 20 percent in 2006. According to the World Food Programme, 470,000 people across Darfur did not receive their monthly rations in July.

The escalating violence is also preventing farmers from planting their fields, which could lead to large food shortages in the coming year.

"All parties to the conflict must be reminded that there can be no military solution in Darfur, and the government must be convinced that its planned military campaign is a prescription for disaster," Egeland said, urging the Council to take immediate political action.

The Sudanese government has proposed its own protection plan, which involves deploying another 10,500 troops to "consolidate the security situation".

"Displaced people in Darfur are absolutely terrified that the same soldiers who expelled them from their homes and villages may now be sent supposedly to protect them," Kate Gilmore, Amnesty International's Executive Deputy Secretary-General, said in a statement on Monday.

"With the looming threat of fresh military action by the Sudanese army, the Security Council must deploy peacekeepers urgently to protect civilians," said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Adopting a resolution is a crucial first step towards stopping the bloodshed in Darfur, but member states must also do all they can to compel Sudan to accept a UN force."

The United States and Britain introduced a draft resolution to the Council on 17 August that would give a UN force broad powers to protect civilians in Darfur.

The proposal calls for a gradual transition from the underfunded African Union (AU) force in Darfur, which has been unable to prevent widespread abuses against civilians, to a UN protection force of 17,500, in addition to 3,300 civilian police. But Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has warned that Sudan's army would fight any UN forces sent to Darfur.

Egeland expressed concern about the impact of the AU mission in Darfur, saying some rebel groups consider the AU to be their enemy and biased in favour of the government and the armed groups associated with it.