On Wednesday, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) declared the situation for the civilian population in West Sudan, which has been a battleground for the last seven years, a catastrophe. "At least 1,221 people have been killed due to fighting in Darfur since May of 2010,” stated Ulrich Delius, the consultant for Africa at the STP. "More than 110,000 people have been forced to flee their villages since February 2010 due to military conflicts. Providing for the tens of thousands of destitute civilians in southern as well as northern Darfur is regularly endangered by the fighting.”

For this reason, the STP is appealing to the member states of the Security Council to ensure, through the passage of a new mandate for the UNAMID peacekeeping forces, effective protection for the civilian population in Darfur as opposed to the reconstruction the country, as proposed by the Arabic states. "Most importantly, a zero-tolerance policy must be put in place to stop the obstruction of UNAMID and humanitarian aid organisations by Sudanese public authorities,” declared Delius. The Security Council will come to a decision about the future of the UNAMID on Thursday

Sudanese public authorities have systematically obstructed the work of UN peacekeeping forces throughout the past several months. Reconnaissance flights made by UN helicopters to determine the movement of peacekeeping forces and to initiate preventative measures for the protection of civilians have been blocked by a flying ban. The helicopters were therefore only able to complete 94 training flights between March and June of 2010. More than 90 requested flights were not approved. At the end of May, all flights in southern Darfur were prohibited for two weeks. According to UN data, the restrictions continue to increase. While in May 21 percent of flights were not permitted, in June the number of restricted flights had risen to 77 percent.

"The number of casualties in Darfur has been noticeably higher in the first half of 2010 than in the entire previous year, when 832 people were killed in the fighting,” clarified Delius. The people of Darfur are disappointed by the UNAMID. Due to the lack of technical and financial infrastructure, the UN security forces are unable to guarantee adequate protection. Despite the five helicopters provided by Ethiopia, 18 more helicopters would be necessary in order to effectively maintain control over Darfur, an area the size of France. "The helicopter debacle is typical given the lack of interest from the international community in a functional UNAMID,” explained Delius. "Three years after the Security Council issued the mandate (7.31.2007) the UNAMID peacekeeping forces still lack the 4,000 soldiers and policeman necessary in order to reach the authorized strength of 25,987 security forces.”

Translated by Sophia Chambers