U.N. Says 350,000 May Be Displaced If AU Leaves Darfur
Julie Farby - All Headline News Staff Writer Khartoum, Sudan (AHN)-The United Nations said on Monday that some 350,000 people in Sudan's war-ravaged west could be displaced if African Union forces leave Darfur when their mandate expires at the end of the month. It forecast that if the 7,000-strong AU force pulled out of Darfur, humanitarian access there would deteriorate dramatically as attacks on vehicles made road travel impossible outside urban centers. The U.N. also feared more civilians could be killed in areas out of reach of aid workers. U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan Manuel da Silva told a news conference in Khartoum, "We feel very strongly that any pullout of the peacekeepers as they are today will trigger a much more serious situation in Darfur," adding that, "We think that if the African Union leaves Darfur, there will be many more people displaced in a very short time." Sudan, which has likened a U.N. presence in Darfur to an invasion force bent on regime change in Khartoum, is expected to agree to an extension of the AU mandate, which expires on September 30. Western leaders, some African presidents, and international humanitarian groups say a U.N. force is the only way to avert a catastrophe in Darfur, where more than 2 million people have been displaced by fighting between government troops, rebels and militias.
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