| 24th
August 2005
"No one will force you to return,"
Guterres tells displaced Darfurians
RIYAD CAMP,
Sudan, August 24 (UNHCR) - UN refugee agency chief António
Guterres today told displaced Darfurians they would never be forced
to go back to the villages they fled under armed attack over the
last two years.
"Nobody
will force you to return," he assured the leaders of displaced
people who told him rape and burning of villages are still continuing
in Darfur, the western region of Sudan that attracted international
concern last year, but has since slipped from the world's front
pages.
The Sudanese
government is putting pressure on some sheikhs - village leaders
- to take their people back to villages destroyed by armed militia.
"The UN
is independent from the government," Guterres added, "so
nobody can force you to return. That's why the troops of the African
Union are here," he told displaced people in a Darfur camp
on the second day of his visit to Sudan. He is on a 10-day visit
to the region to highlight the financial needs of UNHCR and other
international agencies serving Sudanese refugees and displaced people,
and to try to promote an end to the Darfur conflict.
"The main
job of the UN here is to try to force things in order to have peace,"
he said, referring to the stalled Abuja peace talks between the
Sudanese government and the two Darfur rebel movements.
Next week he
will travel to southern Sudan to see preparations being made for
the return of half a million refugees after the signing of a peace
deal for that region in January.
"The same
that happened in the south, we want to happen in Darfur - peace,
disarmament and the possibility for displaced people to choose whether
to return to their homes," he said.
Remarking that
he is a happy man because he has a house, a home and a family, Guterres
said he wants the same for the 2 million people who have been forced
out of their homes in Darfur. He said the UN refugee agency is helping
people re-establish their lives in 10 Darfur villages that are deemed
safe, but he ruled out any possibility of a large-scale return to
villages right now.
The High Commissioner
listened intently as displaced people told him of their need for
security above all, even before food, which they also desperately
need.
"There
is still rape going on. Genocide is still going on and burning of
villages is going on," the chief leader of the displaced people
in Riyad camp told him. "We have no security in this camp.
Our situation is not living. It is as if we are in prison."
Displaced women told him they face murder or rape if they venture
outside the confines of the camp to search for firewood.
The sheikh of
sheikhs representing all 10,000 people in Riyad camp disputed the
Sudanese government's version of the Darfur conflict as either a
tribal battle or a struggle between nomads (herders) and farmers.
"Herders
do not have weapons," said the sheikh. "The people who
attacked us had cars with weapons and Antonovs (airplanes from which
they drop bombs). The government armed people and they are the ones
who attacked us. Up to now we do not feel comfortable."
Guterres said
UNHCR has worked with the African Union to increase peacekeeping
patrols and to create a civilian police post inside the camp.
"We need
them to make sure the Sudanese police abide by the rules, respect
and protect people and do not attack the people. With their post
in the camp, they will be able to see what the government does,"
he said.
The High Commissioner
also visited one of the 30 women's centres UNHCR has set up in camps
for displaced people, places where women can learn craft and get
counselling for the traumas they have suffered.
On Thursday
and Friday, Guterres will be in Chad, where the UN refugee agency
takes care of more than 200,000 refugees from Darfur.
By Kitty McKinsey
In El Geneina, Sudan
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