Background Briefing

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Recommendations

To the Government of Chad

  • Deploy sufficient military personnel and resources to border areas in eastern Chad including the Ouaddaï and Dar Sila administrative departments and as required in other areas to ensure that civilians are protected from further attack;
  • Investigate and prosecute all those individual Chadians involved in attacks on civilians;
  • Improve the living conditions and treatment of all detained rebel fighters to ensure that all those detained are treated humanely and conditions comply with all relevant international standards, including those on accommodation, access to sufficient food, water and health care as contained in the U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners;  
  • Ensure that all members of the armed forces are instructed to respect and comply with Chad’s international and regional human rights obligations and customary international humanitarian law applicable to the hostilities with rebel forces;
  • Take steps to prevent the militarization of all refugee camps including by demanding that Sudanese rebel movements cease all recruitment activities within the camps and ensuring that all Chadian agencies and entities entrusted with refugee protection—including the Commission Nationale d’Accueil et de Réinsertion des Réfugiés (National Commission for the Reception and of Reintegration of Refugees, CNAR), gendarmes and local police and military officials—are aware of their responsibility to ensure the civilian character of the camps; and
  • Investigate and prosecute those individuals held responsible for any deaths of refugees forcibly recruited in March 2006.

To the Government of Sudan

  • Fully implement its obligations under the May 5 Darfur Peace Agreement and its previous commitments as outlined in U.N. Security Council resolutions 1556 (2004); 1591 (2005); 1651 (2005); 1663 (2006) and 1665 (2006) to disarm and disband government-backed militia forces; and
  • Immediately consent to the prompt deployment of a well-resourced U.N. force in Darfur with a robust mandate under Chapter VII to protect civilians and a rapid response capacity.

To the Sudanese Rebel Movements

  • Immediately demobilize all child soldiers and end the recruitment and use of all children under the age of 18;
  • Publicly declare and order all field commanders to refrain from any military activities, including recruitment, fund-raising and logistics, in both the refugee camps in Chad and the internally displaced camps in Darfur; and
  • Investigate and hold to account those commanders responsible for the torture, mistreatment and killings of refugee recruits in Arkoum training camp, eastern Chad.

To the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

To the United Nations Security Council

  • Take all necessary measures—including ensuring full implementation of the arms embargo in Darfur, applying further sanctions on Sudanese government officials, pledging and providing resources to the U.N. force, and passing the necessary resolutions—to ensure the deployment of a U.N. force in Darfur and along the Chadian border on or before October 1, 2006 (following expiry of the mandate of the African Union mission in Darfur on September 30, 2006);
  • Ensure that any U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing a U.N. force for Darfur calls for U.N. forces to use “all necessary means” to protect civilians, under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter;
  • Support the African Union’s efforts in Darfur to protect civilians until transition to a U.N. force; and
  • Call on member states to immediately fund and provide technical and logistical support, personnel and rapid response capabilities to the African Union force, and, eventually, to the U.N. mission in Darfur.

To the African Union Mission in Sudan

  • Actively patrol the main roads and villages in Darfur, particularly in rural areas and in strategic points along the Chadian border, to deter further attacks against the civilian population.  Request additional support and resources as necessary to ensure the Chad-Darfur border is adequately secured.

To E.U. members and other donor governments

  • Immediately increase support to the current African Union force through the provision of rapid response capacity, logistical expertise, equipment, and funds;
  • Immediately and publicly pledge full support to the U.N. force with all necessary resources to enable it to speedily deploy and carry out the vital civilian protection tasks that are needed in Darfur and along the Chad border; and
  • Ensure immediate support to aid agencies supporting 350,000 refugees in eastern Chad to ensure their continued presence for this vital task.


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