It's time for UN member states to show moral leadership in Darfur, pleads Jan Egeland
I first spoke to the UN Security Council on Darfur two years ago, calling it ethnic cleansing of the worst kind. Today I could simply hit the rewind button on much of that earlier briefing. The world's largest aid effort now hangs in the balance, unsustainable under present conditions. If we are to avoid an imminent, massive loss of life, we need immediate action - from the government of Sudan, the rebels, UN Security Council members and donor states.
The carnage in Darfur is escalating, spilling over into Chad. Another 200,000 people have fled for their lives in the last four months alone.
More than two million people are displaced. Marauding, government-backed militias prowl the countryside on a scorched-earth campaign of terror, systematically destroying lives and livelihoods with impunity. Rebel attacks continue against civilians as well as humanitarian operations.
We now have 14,000 unarmed aid workers, mostly Sudanese, in Darfur, but only half as many African Union troops on the ground to enforce a failed ceasefire in an area the size of Texas. Instead of healing the wound, the world has preferred to apply bandages to an open haemorrhage.
Of course, humanitarian bandages are essential to saving lives. Over the last two years we have made huge progress on the humanitarian front. In 2004 we had only 230 relief workers on the ground to assist 350,000 people. Today we help 10 times that number - half of Darfur's population. UN agencies and NGOs have reduced deaths among those displaced in Darfur by two-thirds from their 2004 levels, while halving malnutrition rates in 2005.
Today, however, these life-saving achievements are being swept away by increased violence by all sides, and increased obstructionism by the government of Sudan. Meanwhile, funding for aid has all but dropped off. Donor support in Europe and the Gulf states is seriously flagging. Our UN appeal for life-saving support has less than 20 per cent of funds needed.
Last week we announced we will soon be forced to cut daily food rations in half. More cuts - and hence more lives lost - will follow without further, immediate resources. We urgently need progress on all fronts - security, humanitarian access and political engagement - to prevent the death toll in Darfur from rising.
First, we need better security for the people of Darfur. The African Union's dedicated but overstretched forces must be immediately strengthened during this transition period to better protect the population.
Aid workers must also be able to help all those in need without fear of kidnapping, armed attacks, carjackings or official harassment. If current conditions continue, they will be forced to withdraw.
Second, we need to reach all those in need. In western and northern Darfur, aid workers can reach only 40 per cent of the population due to increased insecurity.
Access hinges on better security and improved co-operation from the government of Sudan and the armed groups. Aid workers in Darfur are forced to cope with threats, intimidation and an Orwellian nightmare of unending bureaucratic restrictions.
The people of Darfur urgently need aid, but they need much more. They need UN member states in Africa, Asia and the Arab world - as well as in the West - to demonstrate moral leadership. We need deeds, not just words. Nothing less will help save lives today or bring peace tomorrow to the people of Darfur.
Jan Egeland is UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator