UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The conflict in Darfur has spread to two neighboring countries and is now in ''free fall'' with six million people facing the prospect of going without food or protection, the outgoing U.N. humanitarian chief said Tuesday.
Jan Egeland, who steps down on Dec. 12, told The Associated Press in an interview that one of the most difficult problems he has faced was convincing countries of the dire situation in the western region of Sudan.
''I think some of the Arab countries and Asian countries have not really understood we're in a free fall. It's not a steady deterioration. It's a free fall and it includes Darfur, eastern Chad, northern Central African Republic,'' he said.
Egeland blamed the Sudanese government, parts of the rebel movement, ethnic leaders in Darfur, and the government of Chad for fueling the war, which began in 2003 when rebels from ethnic African tribes rose up against the Arab-led central government. Khartoum is accused of retaliating by unleashing the janjaweed militias of Arab nomads, who are accused of the worst atrocities.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in the fighting, and the violence has only increased since the government and one rebel group signed a peace agreement in May.
Egeland rang the alarm early on as the crisis in Sudan mounted, and blames a lack of timely international action for the the current humanitarian crisis:
...one of his greatest regrets is that key global leaders did not come together and offer the sticks and carrots to settle the conflict in 2004 when it only involved one million people.
''In the end, we only acted through the humanitarian way,'' Egeland said. ''We have kept people alive, but we haven't protected them, and as I'm going out, I regret to say we're in a free fall again.''
...In a farewell speech on Monday to the U.N. Security Council, Egeland accused world leaders of failing to live up to a pledge made at a U.N. summit in September 2005 to protect civilians caught in armed conflict from genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing. A Security Council resolution adopted in April reaffirmed their agreement.
The UN's outgoing humanitarian programs director issued an ominous comparison to an earlier African catastrophe:
''We would get a genocide. We would get a Rwanda. We could get a terrible situation if the four million people who are in need of humanitarian assistance in Darfur (are) joined by a million people in Chad and another million in northern Central African Republic. That's six million people in a totally hopeless situation.''
Rwanda's President confirms that comparison:
The African Union's inability to end the fighting in Darfur echoes the West's failure to prevent the genocide in Rwanda 12 years ago, Rwanda's president said Tuesday during a visit to Britain.
President Paul Kagame said he could not understand why Darfur's humanitarian disaster continues even though the United Nations, the African Union and Sudan all have agreed the situation is serious.
"There has been a lot of dilly-dallying, a lot of sashaying, a lot of debate, similar to what happened in Rwanda," he said. "Why the Sudan, the AU and the U.N. have not decided how the intervention should be carried out raises more questions than I can answer."
The U.N. is currently evacuating its staff and other assets from the region. Egeland commented on the prospects Sudan's ostensible agreement to a "hybrid mission" made up of elements from the UN and the African Union:
''At the moment I think it's more than sad to see that grown men with jackets and ties like me sit and quarrel of what is a `hybrid force' ... while women and children are dying,'' Egeland said.
''I'm happy to note that in nine months we might have this force, but what about the next nine days where it could collapse completely?''