[Sudan] Bush Orders Darfur Aid; Translator Hacked To Death

from The Boston Channel

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush called for more U.N. peacekeepers for the Darfur region of Sudan on Monday and pledged an increase in U.S. food aid. He also welcomed a proposed peace accord as "the beginnings of hope" for Darfur's poverty-stricken population.

"Darfur has a chance to begin anew," Bush said. He said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would go to the United Nations on Tuesday to lend support for a new U.N. resolution increasing peacekeepers.

He also said he was asking Congress for another $225 million in emergency food aid for Darfur, was ordering the emergency purchase of 40,000 metric tons of food and was dispatching five ships loaded with food to the region.

"America will not turn away from this tragedy," Bush said, standing alongside Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick, just back from Darfur.

Bush invited other countries to also do more to help relief famine in Durfur.

The president sought to build momentum for a peace agreement reached by Sudanese authorities and Darfur's main rebel group. The deal could help end a conflict that has killed at least 180,000 people in three years and displaced some 2 million.

He praised the agreement as "a step toward peace."

"We're still far away from our ultimate goal, which is the return of millions of displaced people to their homes so they can have a life without fear," Bush added. "But we can now see a way forward."

The agreement signed Friday was between the government and the main rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army; two smaller rebel groups refused to sign.

On Saturday, the president called Olusegun Obasanjo, the Nigerian president who hosted talks on Darfur, and Denis Sassou-Nguesso, the president of the Republic of Congo and current head of the 53-nation African Union.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan wants Sudan to grant visas to a U.N. assessment team so it can visit Darfur and start planning for a U.N. peacekeeping force to take over from the African Union troops. Sudan has refused to allow the team to visit.

"An African Union force of about 7,200 from the region has done all it can to keep order. But they're patrolling an area nearly the size of Texas and they have reached the limits of their capabilities," Bush said.

"Our goal is this: We want civilians to return safely to their villages and rebuild their lives. That work has begun and completing it will require even greater effort by many nations," Bush said.

He noted that the United States currently accounts for more than 85 percent of the food distributed in Sudan by a world food program. "But the situation remains dire," Bush said.

"The government of Sudan must allow all U.N. agencies to do their work without hindrance. They should remove the visa and travel restrictions that complicate relief efforts. And all sides must cease attacks on relief workers," the president said.

Translator Hacked To Death

Never the less, residents of a Darfur refugee camp hacked an African Union translator to death Monday shortly after the U.N. humanitarian chief rushed out of the same camp when demonstrators attacked another translator who was part of his entourage, U.N. spokesmen said.

Both attacks were in Kalma camp near the city of Nyala in south Darfur, visited by Jan Egeland, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York said he was told there were two attacks.

The first attack was against a non-governmental organization staffer, which prompted the departure of Egeland and his staff, Dujarric said. The second occurred after Egeland left, when the African Union compound in the camp was destroyed by its residents, he added.

"It is our understanding that an African Union translator was hacked to death," Dujarric said.

Earlier, U.N. spokeswoman Dawn Blalock said Egeland and his entourage had rushed out of the camp when demonstrators demanding the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers attacked a translator. They accused the translator of supporting the feared Janjaweed, the pro-government militia blamed for widespread atrocities in Darfur, she said.

An Associated Press reporter in the camp said Egeland was met by a huge crowd chanting pro-U.N., pro-U.S. and anti-government slogans.

The demonstrators, mostly women, shouted: "Yes to international troops!" - a reference to the Western proposal for U.N. peacekeepers to be deployed in Darfur.

As the entourage was leaving, they attacked a U.N. vehicle with sticks and knives because they thought the translator had said something that did not reflect what they had said in Arabic against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The translator was not injured, but colleagues put him into a van for his own safety, Blalock said in a phone call to The Associated Press.

The translator with Egeland is employed by Oxfam, but was not further identified. The British-based NGO promptly withdrew its six staffers from Kalma camp.

"We did not evacuate," Blalock emphasized. "The program was cut short because tensions were too much."