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| June 19, 2008 |
A report by a humanitarian aid organization working in Darfur and Chad.
Insecurity has reached an unacceptable level, endangering the lives of thousands of civilians. Tensions between Chad and Sudan, attacks of rebels, militias and army presence in camps are the signs of an important change in the security situation and this could have a dramatic impact on populations that have already endured large amounts of violence and suffering. Violence and fighting must stop.Protecting the civilian population: EUFOR/MINURCAT must protect all civilians from all types of violence from any perpetrator. It needs to proactively interpret its protection mandate to help stabilize the situation. EUFOR must ensure that it really protects civilians. Its actions must correspond to the protection threats that currently face civilians and humanitarians who have been deadly targeted these last months without effective solutions from EUFOR. EUFOR must find a way to address the protection threats that currently occur in eastern Chad, for civilians and humanitarians, especially when there are rebel offensives. Population in camps told us that they have been left without protection during recent clashes between rebels and Chadian army.
MINURCAT is not fullfiling its mandate as it has not deployed yet. The gap that it represents is a huge threat for population in camps. Militias, rebels, bandits, national army are entering freely in camps, armed and dangerous, forcing children to enroll. This must end and the UN should put pressure on MINURCAT to accelerate its deployment. MINURCAT's deployment is giving priority to refugee camps but IDP sites are also very vulnerable, and MINURCAT should deploy in all camps.
Addressing impunity: Impunity has reached an unacceptable level in eastern Chad. The Chadian authorities must act on their responsibility to protect civilians. All parties to the conflict in Chad must uphold International Humanitarian Law by ensuring civilians and humanitarians are not attacked. The tragic murders of Pascal Marlinge, the Country Director of Save the Children UK, and Ramadan Djom, a driver for the same organization, are the most recent examples of crimes that affect all humanitarians. In the past 6 months, banditry has grown to a level never seen before in Chad and neither the local nor national authorities are doing enough to stop, prevent or punish it.
This increase in violence is threathening civilian populations and humanitarians. This must stop ; refugees, internally displaced people, and host communities have already suffered an intolerable amount of violence.
Ensuring humanitarian access: The current security situation is putting humanitarian operations at risk. Humanitarian organizations are bringing lifesaving aid to nearly 500,000 refugees and internally displaced people throughout Chad. Our ability to reach populations in remote locations will be greatly reduced if the roads do not become more secure; our ability to carry out operations in other areas will also be threatened if bandits continue to violently break-in to our compounds.
Identifying longer-term protection solutions: The international community - especially the European Union - must realize that the deployment of a protection force for only 12 months will be insufficient to secure sustainable security in eastern Chad. The international community must begin planning now to ensure that when EUFOR's mandate expires in March 2009, there will be a robust mechanism in place to protect civilians.
Addressing the root causes of the conflict: The international community must do all within its power to push for a political solution to the conflicts in Chad. Without a comprehensive and inclusive peace process that addresses the root causes of the several conflicts in Chad, such violence and impunity will continue. The peace process must not only include the armed parties to the conflict (the Government and the rebels) but also the opposition political parties, civil society organizations, and traditional leaders. Local level conflict resolution mechanisms must be re-established to resolve the continuing inter-ethnic tension and violence. The international community must apply credible pressure to all parties to the conflict to negotiate a political solution to the crisis.
Ensuring a regional perspective: to resolve the conflict in Chad, the international community must pay continuous and sustained attention to the situation in Darfur. The first few months of 2008 have been marked by large-scale civilian displacement as a result of ongoing conflict and attacks on civilians by all parties. Over 100,000 more people have fled their homes so far this year and hundreds of civilians have been killed. The international community must maintain pressure on all parties to the conflict in Darfur to respect International Humanitarian Law, cease hostilities and return to the negotiating table.
posted by Mia at 10:26 AM