Toll rises in Sudan's quiet war

The Darfur war boils down to this: African tribes have long been at odds with Arab groups in the region over access to good land. Then, last year, two armed African groups began a rebellion against the Khartoum regime. The government responded by apparently giving military support to Arab militias. There are reports of Sudanese military planes bombing villages, after which Arab militias go in and rape and kill survivors.

Such harsh tactics are used perhaps because the government sees Darfur as a threat to its very existence for two reasons.

First, one rebel group - the Justice and Equality Movement - apparently has ties to Hassan Turabi, a powerful Muslim cleric and regime critic in Khartoum. The regime sees Darfur "as a back-door way for Turabi" to wreak political havoc, says Mr. Prendergast.

Second, there's a risk that north- south peace talks will fail. If so, Darfur groups could link up with southern and eastern rebels. "That could create a solid military threat" to Khartoum "from five or six directions," says Prendergast.

This fear combines with the fact that rebel groups draw strong support - and some fighters - from Darfur's local civilian populations. This is why civilians are regularly targeted.

And it explains the government's reluctance to allow humanitarian groups into the region.

"International organizations don't distinguish between rebels and civilians," says Prof. Abdul-Rahim Ali Mohammed Ibrahim, head of the Khartoum International Institute of Arabic Language who speaks regularly with government officials. He says they worry that aid groups will inadvertently - or even consciously - strengthen rebel forces. "In the south, for instance, more than one aid group was involved in giving military help" to rebels, he says, a charge aid groups deny.

Meanwhile, the UN's Kapila, who is leaving his post next week, says he has only 55 people in Darfur to deal with the displaced masses. He wants to put at least another 30 people in, but says the government is resisting.

The UN and other groups have been able to get some aid into Darfur. On March 16, the World Food Program, for instance, delivered food to some 20,000 displaced people in southern Darfur. But Kapila says the amounts have been not nearly sufficient. And he notes that only three or four aid groups are operating on the ground - and that the International Red Cross has been kept out of the area.

Leo Roozendaal, head of the aid group CARE in Sudan, says he wants to put 30 people on the ground in Darfur. But a combination of security concerns and bureaucratic resistance has prevented him from doing so thus far. He hopes to have them in place in the next month before annual torrential rains begin.

But even if aid groups do increase delivery, displaced people may not accept the help lest they become even bigger targets of the militias.

"They say, 'Don't give us too much,' or, 'Don't give it to us now,' " says Kapila.

There are signs, however, of the government bowing to international pressure. Peace talks between the rebel groups and the government are scheduled to resume Friday in Ndjamena, Chad, after reaching a stalemate last December.

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