More Darfur

From the Scotsman:

Sudanese government forces stormed a refugee camp in Darfur, attacking men, women and children, within hours of Khartoum signing a security agreement with rebels that was supposed to bring peace to the region.

BBC television footage showed Sudanese security forces entering the El Geer refugee camp near Nyala, bulldozing it, firing tear gas at women and children, beating some of the male inhabitants and moving others to a nearby camp.

The violence came hours before Jan Pronk, the United Nations’ Sudan envoy, arrived to visit the camp, the BBC said. At one point during his visit a plastic bullet was fired at a cameraman standing next to a UN vehicle.

George Somerwill, a UN spokesman in Khartoum, confirmed the move into the camp. “In the early hours, four small truckloads of police drove into El Geer camp and they knocked over some of the shacks which the [inhabitants] have constructed,” he said, adding that police fired shots in the air.

It is the second time the camp has been attacked in a week and casts new doubts over Khartoum’s willingness to crack down on violence in the region.

Casts new doubts over Khartoum’s willingness to crack down on violence in the region? Since the government is sponsoring the violence, which is ongoing, I imagine that yes, there is room for some doubt about their good intentions.

Mr Blair told the House of Commons yesterday that time was running out for the Sudanese government to comply with international demands for action.

Mr Blair said that if officials in Khartoum did not ease the crisis in the remote western region of the country, “they need to be well aware of the fact there will be a serious response from the international community”.

Britain hopes the UN Security Council will adopt a resolution next week promising international support and possible debt forgiveness if the Sudanese government reaches peace agreements with rebels in the south and in western Darfur.

This would set an interesting precedent: any government saddled with crippling debts could start slaughtering its citizens in the hope that the international community would forgive the debts if they’d promise to stop. Sounds as sensible as Jimmy Carter’s deal with Kim Jong Il to provide aid to North Korea if they’d agree to abandon their nuclear programme.