Seven items (updated originally to add the VOA story; updated further, on Saturday, to add the one from AFP):
From DPA...
Sudan's Darfur region faces a "major catastrophe" as a result of worsening violence, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres warned Friday. "An already bad situation is worsening by the day," he said. "Millions of people are already at grave risk. Hundreds are still dying amid ongoing violence and thousands are still being forcibly displaced."
Guterres warned that the deteriorating situation since December threatened to spark a massive round of displacement that could destabilize the entire region.
Lack of security for the humanitarian agencies and their staff had seriously affected the aid operation. A dozen aid workers had been killed since May and offices and compounds had been attacked.
"Deteriorating security has left us unable to provide even minimal help across wide areas of Dafur, and resources in neighbouring Chad have been stretched to the limit," Guterres added.
Some 200,000 Dafur refugees are sheltered in a dozen refugee camps in Chad.
The violence is continuing unabated with some of the worst atrocities occurring since the signing of the May peace accord, said Jose-Luis Diaz, a spokesman for the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights.
He described one incident at the end of August when hundreds of militia attacked ten villages, killing 38 people and injuring 23.
From the AP...
The U.N. refugee chief on Friday warned that Sudanese troops could be preparing for a major military offensive in Darfur and that the worsening violence there threatens the entire region.
``Millions of people are already at grave risk,'' said Antonio Guterres, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees. ``Hundreds are still dying amid ongoing violence, and thousands are still being forcibly displaced.''
Sudanese government forces on Aug. 28 launched a major offensive believed to involve thousands of troops backed by bomber aircraft and helicopter gunships in a bid to flush out rebel strongholds in the troubled western region.
Another government offensive could displace even more people in Darfur, Guterres said in a statement [see below], noting that thousands of government troops have been deployed there in recent weeks.
The violence, which has increased since a May peace deal signed by the government and the region's largest rebel group, also threatens neighboring countries, he said.
In Chad, where UNHCR camps house more than 200,000 Darfur refugees, cross-border violence has at times been so bad that it has sent some Chadians fleeing into Darfur, he noted. The Central African Republic, located southwest of Sudan, also is being threatened by increased instability in Darfur, he said.
``Urgent international action is needed to put pressure on the parties to the conflict and to convince everyone involved on the ground to let humanitarian agencies safely carry out their work,'' he said. ``Lives depend on it. If things don't improve, we're heading for a major catastrophe.''
An understaffed and cash-starved African Union force of 7,000 peacekeeping troops has been unable to halt the violence in Darfur, a vast region the size of France, since the conflict began three years ago.
The African Union has asked for the U.N. to take control of the peacekeeping force, whose formal mandate expires on Sept. 30. But Sudan has rejected U.N. plans to take over the mission and said this week it would expel the African Union peacekeepers if they insist on transferring their mission to the United Nations.
Guterres, citing the poor security situation in Darfur and the uncertainty over whether a U.N. peacekeeping force will be deployed to the region, said, ``A bad situation is worsening by the day.''
UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said there recently have been ``disturbing reports'' of rapes and killings in Darfur.
He added that the insecurity and ongoing attacks on U.N. and other aid workers were threatening the agency's ability to act as ``the international eyes and ears on the ground.'' The agency has said it will continue providing humanitarian assistance in Darfur, even as it says its access to remote areas has become increasingly difficult and - in some cases - impossible.
More than 200,000 have been killed in the region since 2003, when ethnic African tribes revolted against the Arab-led Khartoum government. Fighting has caused another 2.5 million people to flee their homes.
The peace deal, signed in Nigeria, was supposed to help end the conflict, but instead has triggered months of fighting between factions of the Sudan Liberation Army. The United Nations has reported continued attacks by armed militias on villages, and has cited evidence that government forces have been complicit in some.
Jose Diaz, spokesman for U.N. human rights chief Louise Arbour, added that civilians living in Darfur's rebel-controlled areas continue to be exposed to abuses, ``either as a result of indiscriminate attacks or as a result of getting in the middle of clashes between warring parties.''
He said U.N. monitors have documented a number of attacks on villages, such as a series of rebel incursions in the south Darfur locality of Buram he described as ``the most serious since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement.'' Reports indicate that 38 people were killed and 23 injured in the attacks on 10 Buram villages Aug. 28-31, Diaz said.
From the BBC...
The head of the UN refugee agency has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in the Sudanese province of Darfur if the security situation does not improve.
Antonio Guterres called on Sudan's government to allow a UN peacekeeping force into the country, saying it was time to put the people of Darfur first.
Mr Guterres also warned that the escalating violence was now a threat to the stability of the entire region.
Three years of conflict have left millions displaced and thousands dead.
The UN says the situation shows no signs of improving, and aid agencies say it is getting worse.
'Terrible disaster'
Despite a peace deal signed in May between the government and one of the rebel groups, the violence is increasing.
Attacks on aid workers occur almost daily - 12 have been killed in the last three months.
Speaking in Geneva, Antonio Guterres, the head of UNHCR, said it was a situation which could not continue.
"I think we are facing a terrible disaster. War is starting again, violations of human rights are massive, situations of rape - these have all kinds of devastating forms of impact in the lives of this population and make us feel more and more uncomfortable because we are not able to help them.
"We cannot even have access to them. This is unacceptable, this has to stop."
Mr Guterres called on the government of Sudan to accept UN peacekeepers in Darfur.
Khartoum has so far rejected this, but Mr Guterres said the presence of UN troops was now urgently needed.
Aid agencies believe their work will be impossible without an international force in Darfur.
Privately many in the UN fear the escalating violence over the last few weeks is the build-up to a major attack by government forces.
If that happens, it could trigger another flood of refugees from Darfur into neighbouring Chad, where the UN refugee agency is already caring for 200,000 people.
Those camps are stretched to breaking point, Mr Guterres said, and a new refugee crisis along the borders could bring instability to the entire region.
By Reuters' Richard Waddington...
(An earlier version is also still available on AlertNet.)
Sudan's conflict-ridden Darfur region faces a humanitarian "catastrophe" without rapid action to improve security and get aid to those in need, the head of the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday.
The warning by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres followed a cry of alarm by the top U.N. humanitarian official Jan Egeland late last month.
"Hundreds are still dying amid ongoing violence, and thousands are being forcibly displaced ... If things do not improve, we are heading for a major catastrophe," Guterres said in a statement.
The Sudanese government rejects U.N. plans to deploy 20,000 troops and police to Darfur by year-end, likening it to a Western invasion that would attract jihadi militants and create an Iraq-like quagmire.
Khartoum has deployed thousands of troops to the region to confront rebels who refused to sign a May peace accord. The UNHCR said this had triggered fears of a major military offensive that could create yet more refugees.
"Urgent international action is needed to put pressure on the parties to the conflict and to convince everyone involved on the ground to let humanitarian agencies safely carry out their work ... Lives depend on it," Guterres said.
Separately, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said reports by U.N. monitors confirmed the situation was worsening, with civilians exposed to indiscriminate attacks by the warring parties.
STRUGGLING TO COPE
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million forced to flee to camps during 3-1/2 years of fighting. Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms accusing the central government of marginalising the remote region that borders Chad.
Human rights organisations have accused government forces and their Janjaweed militia allies of widespread rights abuses.
Guterres said humanitarian agencies were struggling to cope with the renewed violence that has left swathes of Darfur too dangerous to visit by road.
A dozen aid workers have been killed since May when only one of three rebel groups signed the peace deal. Humanitarian convoys are repeatedly attacked and vehicles stolen. U.N. offices and compounds have also been attacked, and staff can only get to some areas by air, the UNHCR added.
In one of the most serious examples of violence, villages around Buram in South Darfur were attacked at the end of August by up to 1,000 armed men, Arbour said.
At least 38 people were killed in the raids which forced the civilian population of some 10,000 to flee.
The UNHCR warned that the crisis could increase instability in bordering areas of Chad and the Central African Republic. Chad is already host to some 200,000 Darfur refugees and 46,000 from the Central African Republic.
"Chad ... is now close to breaking point," Guterres said.
The United Nations wants to send troops to replace some 7,000 soldiers and police from the African Union, whose mandate is ending.
Sudanese politicians say Khartoum fears they could arrest officials likely to be indicted by the International Criminal Court investigating suspected war crimes in the region.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Gutteres, warns the worsening situation in Sudan's Darfur region threatens to spark another round of mass displacement that could destabilize the entire region. He is calling for rapid international action to improve security.
High Commissioner Antonio Gutteres says deteriorating security is making it very difficult for humanitarian agencies to provide even minimum help to some two million people made homeless by the war in Darfur. His spokesman, Ron Redmond, says this bad situation is worsening by the day.
"Mr. Guterres notes that millions of people are already at grave risk and urgent international attention is needed to put pressure on the parties to the conflict and to convince everyone involved on the ground to let humanitarian agencies safely carry out their work," he said. "Lives depend on this, he says, and if things do not improve, we are heading for a major catastrophe."
Sudanese government-backed Arab Janjaweed militia have been fighting with black African rebel groups for the past three and one half years. Tens of thousands of people have been killed, more than two million people have become internally displaced and at least 200,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Chad.
Since May, a dozen aid workers have been killed and humanitarian convoys are repeatedly attacked and vehicles stolen. The U.N. refugee agency has six offices and nearly 100 staff in South and West Darfur to carry out its protection monitoring activities. But, Redmond says the situation has become so dangerous [that] monitors have to use helicopters to get around to see what is happening to the internally displaced people.
"That is becoming ever more difficult to achieve," he said. "There are still disturbing reports of abuses, of rapes, sexual and gender-based violence, killing people who are unable to leave IDP [Internally Displaced People] camps. So it is a very, very serious situation and the High Commissioner is extremely concerned about it, particularly from the perspective of how we would deal with another massive displacement, were it to occur."
Guterres warns the crisis could increase instability in bordering areas of Chad and the Central African Republic. He notes Chad is hosting more than 200,000 refugees from Darfur and another 46,000 from the Central African Republic. He says the country is close to breaking point.
The Khartoum government opposes the deployment of 20,000 U.N. troops and police to the Darfur region. In addition, thousands of Sudanese troops have been sent to Darfur in recent weeks. The U.N. refugee agency says this is prompting fears of a major military offensive that could lead to more displacement.
From AFP...
A major catastrophe is brewing in Sudan’s strife-torn western region of Darfur that could destabilise the whole region, the UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres warned yesterday [Friday].
“If things don’t improve, we’re heading for a major catastrophe,” said Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, in a statement underlining the impact of worsening violence in Darfur.
“Millions of people are already at grave risk. Hundreds are still dying amid ongoing violence, and thousands are still being forcibly displaced,” he added.
Guterres underlined the threat of a further massive displacement to add to some 2.2 million people who have already fled their homes, including 200,000 refugees in neighbouring Chad.
The Sudanese government rejects UN plans to deploy 20,000 troops and police to Darfur by year-end, likening it to a Western invasion that would attract jihadi militants and create an Iraq-like quagmire.
Those concerns are heightened by the prospect that African Union peacekeeping troops will pull out of Darfur, while the Sudanese government is massing troops there, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said.
Khartoum is not allowing the beleaguered AU mission to be turned over to the United Nations, but has stressed that the pan-African body was welcome to extend its operation.
However, the AU earlier this week maintained a September 30 deadline for the end of its mission in the region.
“Security on the ground is already difficult, without them it will be just about impossible,” UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told journalists.
The UN refugee agency also highlighted fears of a major military offensive, saying thousands of Sudanese troops were deployed to Darfur in recent weeks.
“It is hard to comprehend the enormity of the crisis we would face if there is additional large-scale displacement in Darfur,” Guterres said.
“Deteriorating security has left us unable to provide even minimal help across wide areas of Darfur, and resources in neighboring Chad have been stretched to the limit. An already bad situation is worsening by the day,” he added.
Guterres called for “urgent international action” to press the Sudanese government, local militias and Darfur rebels “to let humanitarian agencies safely carry out their work,” he added. “Lives depend on it.”
The refugee agency underlined that Sudan had been “generous” in hosting refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia.
“The High Commissioner is making a personal appeal to the Sudanese government to ensure protection for its own people, in this case the displaced in Darfur,” Redmond said.
The UN refugee agency fears that the impact of the crisis in Darfur could even amplify instability in the Central African Republic, where 46,000 people have fled across the border to three UNHCR camps in Chad.
“Chad has been extremely generous in helping refugees, but its now close to the breaking point,” Guterres said, underlining the impoverished African nation’s double refugee burden.
A further deterioration in Darfur could also severely affect the repatriation of thousands of refugees to south Sudan by drawing international relief staff and resources away from the operation there, the UNHCR added.
The combined effect of war and famine in Darfur has left up to 300,000 people dead after three and half years of civil war pitting the Sudanese government and allied militias against ethnic minority rebels.
"Official" UNHCR story (also as a basic press release, in a very similar version)...
(See also the related "briefing notes".)
UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres warned on Friday that the worsening situation in Sudan's Darfur region threatens to spark another round of massive displacement that could destabilise the entire region.
"Humanitarian agencies are already struggling to cope with the enormous needs of some two million internally displaced people inside Darfur, plus more than 200,000 refugees in 12 UNHCR-run camps across the border in Chad," Guterres said in Geneva. "Deteriorating security has left us unable to provide even minimal help across wide areas of Darfur, and resources in neighbouring Chad have been stretched to the limit. An already bad situation is worsening by the day."
Guterres cited the lack of security and access as well as continuing uncertainty over the deployment to Darfur of a UN peacekeeping force that was recently approved by the UN Security Council. The Khartoum government opposes the UN deployment. In addition, thousands of Sudanese troops have been deployed to Darfur in recent weeks, prompting fears of a major military offensive that could lead to yet more displacement.
"Millions of people are already at grave risk," the High Commissioner said. "Hundreds are still dying amid ongoing violence, and thousands are still being forcibly displaced. Urgent international action is needed to put pressure on the parties to the conflict and to convince everyone involved on the ground to let humanitarian agencies safely carry out their work. Lives depend on it. If things don't improve, we're heading for a major catastrophe."
UNHCR has six offices and nearly 100 staff in South and West Darfur to carry out protection monitoring activities. Security in many parts of Darfur has steadily deteriorated since last December.
A dozen aid workers have been killed since May, and humanitarian convoys are repeatedly attacked and vehicles stolen. Offices and compounds have also been attacked, and staff are only able to travel by helicopter to reach some areas.
Guterres said the worsening situation in Darfur could also have dire consequences for the rest of the region. Neighbouring Chad, where a dozen, remote UNHCR camps currently hold more than 200,000 Darfur refugees, is already grappling with cross-border insecurity that has displaced some 50,000 Chadians and sent about 15,000 of them fleeing into Darfur.
The Darfur crisis also has the potential to exacerbate continuing instability in the northern Central African Republic. Some 46,000 Central African refugees are housed in three UNHCR camps in southern Chad.
"Chad has been extremely generous in helping refugees, but it's now close to the breaking point," Guterres said. "It is hard to comprehend the enormity of the crisis we would face if there is additional large-scale displacement in Darfur. Even without the violence and insecurity, humanitarian operations in this remote and resource-poor region are extremely difficult."
The one bright spot in the region, the UNHCR repatriation of thousands of Sudanese refugees and displaced back to their homes in southern Sudan, could also be severely affected should the Darfur crisis worsen.
Staff and resources would almost certainly have to be diverted from the southern Sudan operation to contend with any new displacement from Darfur. The southern Sudan repatriation operation is itself facing a severe funding shortfall.
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