A peace deal to end Darfur's three-year civil war was signed nearly two weeks ago, yet thousands of people in Sudan remain enslaved, without shelter, and forgotten.
The U.N. Security Council, which expressed "utmost concern" over the impact on civilians of the civil war, unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday that would accelerate planning for a United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur, according to The Associated Press.Anyone who stands in the way of a May 5 peace agreement signed by the Sudanese government and Darfur's main rebel group would be met with "strong and effective measures," the resolution stated.
The African Union, which agreed this week to transfer authority for its peacekeeping force in Darfur to the United Nations by the end of September, demanded that rebel groups that have yet to sign the peace deal do so by the end of the month. Two rebel movements, a splinter faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, held out on joining the agreement.
Other groups including China, Russia and Qatar signed on after learning the African Union supported the resolution and asked them to join.
In the meantime, conditions in the Darfur region remain desperate with no signs of improvement since the peace deal was made. Seven members of the Congressional Black Caucus were arrested Tuesday during their protest against the atrocious conditions.
Former Sudanese slave Simon Deng, who had visited Southern Sudan and Darfur earlier this month, described the living situation as "hell."
"Many are Darfurians who are flooding into South Sudan and live in the severest conditions," he said in a released statement."They are forgotten refugees who call the trees their home and the leaves their food. They have no shelter, no food, little water, and no medicine. I saw starvation, disease and destruction everywhere. With no hope in sight, the death rate will be catastrophic in a few months."
