U.N. Official Says Most Nations Slow to Recognize Sudan Crisis by Sean OíDriscoll Jan Egeland looks tired. He is unshaven, his tie is loose, and he looks as if he has had little sleep these past few days. His interview was delayed while he went through another round of discussions on the humanitarian disaster in the Sudan. He is locked in a depressing situation, a ìnightmareî as he calls it. Armed militia groups, ethnically Arab, are attacking black Muslim civilians in the southern and eastern regions of the Sudan, killing thousands of men, women and children. The panic that the attacks have induced has sent hundreds of thousands fleeing into nearby Chad, which is being overwhelmed by the massive flow of people. Egeland, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator at the United Nations, is trying to help these thousands of refugees before the rainy season begins next month. At that time, the dirt roads leading to refugee camps will be washed over, making access almost impossible. The United Nations fears that the rains will add disease to an already desperate situation, and that more than 500,000 lives are at risk in Darfur i n eastern Sudan. ìItís a moment of truth now whether the world will tolerate massive starvation,î said Egeland, slumped in a seat at his office inside the U.N. headquarters in New York. ìThis is a dramatic moment of truth for between 1 [million] and 2 million people in Darfur and another [150,000 to 200,000] refugees in Chad. And what is at stake is our ability to come to their relief against all the odds.î Egeland is a fortunate find for any journalist. He speaks plainly and comes from a liberal European tradition that tends to sidestep the normal diplomatic politeness that in part crushed the United Nationsí response to the Rwandan genocide in 1994. On the Sudanese governmentís role in the murder of civilians, Egeland is blunt. The government has made no effort to stop the Darfur-based Janjaweed militia from killing innocent civilians, he argued, and it has hampered relief efforts by blocking the United Nations from entering the country. ìThe Janjaweed militia has created havoc now for many months,î Egeland said. ìGrown men with automatic weapons [are] attacking defenseless women and children, in spite of the ceasefire agreement. They are still attacking innocent civilians, and there are too many restrictions imposed by the government.î At a recent donor conference, Egeland told the audience that the United Nations was too slow in waking up to the crisis. However, he is adamant that the primary blame for the crisis lies with the warring factions in the Sudan. ìWe are late because the parties fought too long. We only had a ceasefire late into this year when the crisis was already a tremendous reality,î he said. Even at that late point, however, Egeland said the Sudanese government deliberately obstructed U.N. efforts to get help to those who needed it the most. ìWe then had a government who denied us as humanitarians our right of access, and the people of Darfur their right to receiving assistance,î he said, noting, ìWe only really effectively gained access in April, and we only got travel permits over the past two or three weeks.î The U.N. official is also critical of Western nations for their slow approach to the relief efforts, although he said the United States has been receptive to giving assistance. Egeland will soon meet with members of Congress to discuss the Sudan crisis. ìWe had donors, with the notable exception of the United States, who have been coming with too little, too late. However, we have a sizable pledge both from the United States and from some Europeans.î Egeland pointed out that many nongovernmental organizations were also slow to recognize the seriousness of the situation. ìSome of the agencies have been too lateóboth the U.N. and many of the NGOs who are usually quick. Now we are in a tremendous race against time to save hundreds of thousands of lives. ìEveryone should have woken up earlier,î he added. ìUNICEF and other U.N. agencies only got one-fifth of what [we were] asking for. Everything has been too slow. This is a nightmare for us. I need it all today, not next week or next month.î The killing of civilians in eastern Sudan comes down to ethnic cleansing, Egeland said, but the situation in the Sudan more closely resembles Serbian attacks on Kosovo than the nightmare of Rwanda 10 years ago. Egeland said he has heard credible reports of entire villages being looted and burned, and many thousands have been killed in Darfur, while militias are raping women and destroying schools, wells and food supplies. The greatest challenge now will be to provide water, sanitation and nutrition for up to 600,000 people in the next few weeks. To put the problem into perspective, the Sudan is roughly the size of Western Europe while the affected area constitutes the size of France alone. The exhaustive, around-the-clock effort to coordinate food, shelter and sanitation over such vast distances may perhaps explain Egelandís rough-around-the-edges appearance. The disaster, Egeland explained, cannot be viewed as a long-term problem that requires a slow, measured approached. It is ìan earthquakeî that has hit the Sudan, and relief must be immediate. ìWe are way behind in immunization,î he said, giving a stark view of a looming public health crisis in the camps. ìThe fact remains that we have over 100,000 people in camps that are going to be very difficult to reach in the rainy season.î Egeland calls the problem the worst humanitarian crisis the world now faces. The seasoned diplomat is accustomed to global disasters, having spent more than 25 years in the humanitarian and human rights arenas. He served as secretary-general of the Norwegian Red Cross and spent three years as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annanís special adviser on Colombia. Egeland also helped to organize what is arguably one of the great achievements in international diplomacy in recent years, the Oslo Accords, signed by the Israelis and Palestinians in September 1993. His role was to help to facilitate the Norwegian channel between the PLO and the Israelis, who were refusing direct meetings. It was an experience that has helped Egeland with his current political negotiations in the Sudan, where he has found himself at odds with the government. Egeland completely rejects a recent statement by the Sudanese vice president, who claimed that sanctions placed on the Sudan by Western nations were the real reason for the crisis in Darfur. ìI disagree with that,î Egeland said calmly. ìThe government and the opposing parties are not preventing thousands of armed men causing havoc among the defenseless.î A recent NGO report strongly recommended a no-fly zone over Darfur, working in much the same way that the no-fly zone over Kurd-controlled areas in Iraq did before the fall of Saddam Hussein. Egeland is quick to support such a proposal, believing it could greatly slow down the havoc being caused by the government-supported militias. However, he added that the solution to the Sudanese crisis must be a political and not a military one. As of press time, U.N. ceasefire monitors are scheduled to be in place to observe a shaky ceasefire that was agreed upon on April 8óa sign of hope that stability might come to the region. ìNevertheless,î Egeland cautioned, ìthere are 45 indiscriminate attacks per day. By no means can we say that this war is over or that these atrocities are over.î Egeland said his greatest hope is that the worst is coming to an end, and that the Sudanese warring factions will realize that human life is more important than military victory. ìI hope we have hit rock bottom in this suffering and crisis,î he said. ìMy greatest hope is that we can build from here. The next few weeks will be crucial.î Sean OíDriscoll is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.