Annie
Diamond Member
- Nov 22, 2003
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how ungrateful can you get?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200409/s1207218.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200409/s1207218.htm
Darfur refugees fear returning home: UN
Many refugees in Sudan's wartorn Darfur region still live in a climate of fear and are reluctant to return home as they do not trust the government to protect them, according to the United Nation's (UN) human rights chief.
"The stories we heard in all three states of Darfur convey an acute sense of insecurity," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said.
Many refugees "continue to live in a climate of fear".
An estimated 50,000 people have died and 1.4 million have been displaced in Sudan's western Darfur region where UN officials say pro-government Janjaweed militias have carried out a scorched earth campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Arab minorities.
Ms Arbour returned to Geneva after spending a week in the region with the UN's special envoy on genocide, Juan Mendes and is due to present a report and recommendations in the coming days to UN secretary general Kofi Annan and the UN Security Council.
The UN has been putting pressure on the Sudanese Government to disarm the Janjaweed and increase security in the area so refugees may return home, but Ms Arbour said "displaced people cannot envisage returning home because they do not trust the government of Sudan to protect them".
"At best they feel the authorities respond inadequately to their concerns, and at worst that they are in collusion with their abusers, including armed groups and militias generally described as Janjaweed," she said.
-- AFP