ETHIOPIA: UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN SPEAKING AT AFRICAN UNION HEADQUARTERS IN ADDIS ABABA ON THE CRISIS IN THE DARFUR REGION OF SUDAN.
Record ID:
223057
ETHIOPIA: UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN SPEAKING AT AFRICAN UNION HEADQUARTERS IN ADDIS ABABA ON THE CRISIS IN THE DARFUR REGION OF SUDAN.
- Title: ETHIOPIA: UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN SPEAKING AT AFRICAN UNION HEADQUARTERS IN ADDIS ABABA ON THE CRISIS IN THE DARFUR REGION OF SUDAN.
- Date: 26th May 2005
- Summary: (W3) ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (MAY 26, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. MV: UNITED NATIONS (U.N.) SECRETARY-GENERAL, KOFI ANNAN, ARRIVING AT AFRICA UNION HALL AND SITTING DOWN. 0.09 2. PAN: OF DELEGATES. 0.16 3. CU: (SOUNDBITE)(English) U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL, KOFI ANNAN SAYING: "More than two million people have been forced (CUTAWAY: SUDAN FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT AT THE MEETING) to flee from their homes, more than three million will need relief to get through the next few months. We are still 350 million dollars short of what we require to provide that relief and we are running a race against time. Indeed it is a race against time. The rainy season and the 'hunger gap' are approaching fast, making our relief operation more difficult just as they need to expand even further. If violence and fear prevent the people of Darfur from planting and growing crops next year, then millions (CUTAWAY: NATO SECRETARY GENERAL AND EU'S JAVIER SOLANA) will have to be sustained by an epic relief effort which will stretch international capacity to the maximum. Although the violence in Darfur has stabilised over the last few months, the situation remains unacceptable. Civilians are still at risk and subject to attacks. Moreover, violence is increasingly targeted at aid workers, hampering their difficult work." 1.39 4. WS: MEETING. 1.41 5. SCU: AFRICA UNION COMMISSION CHAIRPERSON ALPHA OUMAR KONARE ADDRESSING THE MEETING. 1.50 6. SCU: SUDAN'S FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT OSMAN TAHA ADDRESSING THE MEETING. 2.00 7. PAN: OF DELEGATES. 2.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th June 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
- Country: Ethiopia
- Reuters ID: LVA8YBDJKS91RK6MDSNQJO1XYH
- Story Text: UN secretary-general Kofi Annan warns of catastrophe
if the world does not race against time to save Darfur
United Nations (U.N.) Secretary General Kofi Annan
urged donors on Thursday (May 26) to fund a bigger African
peace mission in Darfur and warned an "epic relief effort"
would be needed if more violence worsened hunger in the
Sudanese region.
Saying peace efforts were in a "race against time",
Annan told a donor pledging conference in neighbouring
Ethiopia that further turmoil in Darfur could wreck a deal
to end a separate war in the oil-exporting south of
Africa's largest country.
"More than two million people have been forced to flee
from their homes, more than three million will need relief
to get through the next few months," Annan said in a
speech at African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa.
"If violence and fear prevent the people of Darfur
from planting and growing crops next year, then millions
will have to be sustained by an epic relief effort which
will stretch international capacity to the maximum."
The 53-nation AU is seeking $460 million (USD) to more
than triple its peacekeeping force in Darfur. The AU has
deployed 2,300 troops to monitor a shaky ceasefire in
Darfur in Sudan's west, with international financial
backing to pay for the mission.
Its role policing the civil war that has already cost
180,000 lives through violence, hunger and disease is seen
as a major test of the African body's peacekeeping
abilities.
The European Union and 26-nation NATO alliance have
agreed to provide air transport and training for the
expanded AU force.
Annan urged rich nations to fund an expansion of the force,
saying civilians and aid workers were being attacked.
"Although the violence in Darfur has stabilised over
the last few months, the situation remains unacceptable.
Civilians are still at risk and subject to attacks.
Moreover, violence is increasingly targeted at aid workers,
hampering their difficult work."
Annan also appealed for money to fund U.N. humanitarian
activities around Sudan, where food distribution by the
U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) faces a chronic shortage of
funds.
"We are still 350 million dollars short of what we
require to provide that relief. and we are running a race
against time, indeed it is a race against time. The rainy
season and the 'hunger gap' are approaching fast, making
our relief operation more difficult just as they need to
expand even further." he said.
The Darfur conflict broke out in February 2003 after
rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated government.
Khartoum is accused of retaliating by arming local Arab
militia, who burned down villages and slaughtered and raped
civilians.
Annan urged the rebels and the government to resume
AU-mediated talks, which stalled in December but are due to
resume in Abuja, Nigeria, on Monday.
In Nairobi, Abdel Wahed Mohamed al-Nur, leader of the
Darfur rebel Sudan Liberation Army, called on the
conference to help bring about the disarming of the
Janjaweed Arab militia.
He urged donors to provide "security in Darfur by means
of international forces and arrest those accused of war
crimes."
Annan said more war in Darfur could help unravel an
accord negotiated in Kenya's Naivasha town by the
government and southern rebels six months ago aimed at
ending 21 years of civil war that killed two million people
and uprooted four million.
"If stability is not achieved in Darfur, then the
promise of Naivasha - the promise of a just and democratic
country able to realise its full potential - will be in
serious jeopardy."
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None