Refugees International: Articles: Letter to UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Urges Regional Response to Crises

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Letter to UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Urges Regional Response to Crises

04/03/2006

United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, is on a nine-day mission to Chad, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda, analyzing the regional implications of the interwoven crises. Refugees International recently returned from missions to northern Uganda, South Sudan and Chad, and wrote the following letter welcoming the mission as a first step in developing a truly regional response.

Mr. Jan Egeland
Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
The United Nations
New York, NY

Dear Jan:

Your trip to Uganda, Sudan and Chad provides an opportunity to examine the linkages among the conflicts in the three countries and develop a truly regional response. Refugees International has recently completed assessment missions in Uganda, Sudan and Chad, and I am passing on the following recommendations.

NORTHERN UGANDA

Despite increased UN attention, the humanitarian situation in northern Uganda remains appalling. RI continues to support the recommendations you laid out in December 2005 for the appointment of a high-level envoy and the creation of a panel of experts to examine sources of support for the Lord’s Resistance Army. RI is concerned that Uganda’s initiative to reinvigorate and expand the Core Group through participation in the Joint Country Coordination and Monitoring Committee is a substitute for high-level UN, particularly Security Council, engagement on Uganda. Core Group involvement in the JCCMC can be a useful tool to demand accountability in responding to the humanitarian crisis by ensuring the Government meets concrete benchmarks, but the Core Group should not replace the Security Council, and in your meetings with the government, RI urges you to press the need for a high level UN envoy and panel of experts.

SOUTHERN SUDAN

The crisis in northern Uganda has spread into southern Sudan, and this formerly calm area is now extremely dangerous. LRA fighters are now committing atrocities against Sudanese civilians in southern Sudan and there have been reports that disgruntled SPLA soldiers are swelling the ranks of the LRA there. The recent attacks on UN complicated humanitarian assistance, and newly displaced people flee into refugee camps in Kenya daily. High level UN engagement in solving the conflict in northern Uganda is critical to the success of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan. The SPLA must be urged to engage the LRA. UNMIS must be given the mandate and resources to assist in order to protect civilians and to assist in the execution of ICC arrest warrants.

RI worries that the UN lacks the ability to respond to the massive needs in south Sudan. Even before the recent attacks, UNHCR’s role in southern Sudan was extremely weak. RI is concerned about the inability of the Government, the UN and NGOs to protect civilians in southern Sudan. For political reasons, the government of south Sudan is trying to bring displaced people home before it can offer them adequate support and protection. RI urges you to convey to the SPLM the importance of protection of civilians. Monitoring mechanisms should be implemented to measure progress in providing protection.

Services throughout south Sudan are weak or non-existent. This, combined with growing insecurity in the area, threatens to undermine the Comprehensive Peace Accords. NGOs have been extremely slow to deploy into south Sudan, further hampering the UN’s ability to respond to the thousands of IDPs and refugees spontaneously returning to the south. We urge you to meet with donors and NGOs to find a creative way to address the constraints that have hampered NGOs from expanding fully into south Sudan to serve the areas of return.

Disarmament and landmine clearance are also urgent priorities for south Sudan. Both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the SPLA are shirking their responsibility to mark mine fields, and local officials blame the UN Mine Action Service for failing to clear all land mines. RI is concerned that the rainy season could trigger an ‘epidemic of landmine accidents.’ The absence of a true disarmament process is further constraining humanitarian action. Violence throughout the South continues. Both SPLA and SAF are reluctant to disarm and must be politically pressured to do so. We urge you to meet with representatives of the SPLA and the SAF to take responsibility for marking the minefields and beginning the disarmament process.

CHAD

The conflict in Darfur is spilling over into Chad, leading to a deterioration in the humanitarian services, increasing refugee flows into Chad, and displacing Chadians. Organizations working in the area estimate that over 70 villages on the border are now empty. To date, the Chadian government has failed to acknowledge an internal displacement problem, tying the hands of the international community. However, the UN agencies admit that even if the Chadian government were to ask for assistance, they would be largely unable to provide it due to financial and insecurity constraints, as well as to a lack of forward planning for such a crisis. The greatest need for both Sudanese refugees and Chadians is not material assistance, it is security. The question remains as to who would be able to provide security and the potential role of the UN, the African Union and the French army needs to be further assessed and clarified.

In the past few months, thousands of refugees from the Central African Republic have arrived in overwhelmed Chadian border villages. Very few humanitarian actors are operating in southern Chad, with MSF being the only international presence in northern CAR. As the camps fill up, UNHCR finds itself unable to meet the protection and assistance needs of refugees. RI is concerned about the delays in processing new arrivals and transferring them to camps where they can receive assistance. In addition, RI is worried about the reduction of assistance due to breakdowns in the food pipeline and lack of budget for basic non-food items such as soap. Throughout its operations country-wide, UNHCR needs to take greater responsibility for the quality control of the work of its implementing partners in the camps, ensuring that Sphere standards are fully realized.

Thank you for undertaking this important trip at such a challenging time.

Sincerely,
Kenneth H. Bacon
President, Refugees International