Sudan says 3,000 police already in Darfur: paper

BERLIN, July 13 (Reuters) – Sudan has sent thousands of police officers to Darfur and believes it has made strong progress in improving conditions in the remote region, Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

In a summary of an interview to be published on Wednesday, Germany’s Tageszeitung newspaper quoted Ismail as saying more than 50 Arab militiamen had been arrested and were in custody.

“We have already sent almost 3,000 police officers to Darfur and the number should rise to 6,000. The situation in refugee camps is improving greatly,” Ismail told the paper.

Fighting in the Darfur region pitting black Africans against Sudanese government forces and Arab militiamen, known as Janjaweed, has forced more than one million people to flee to other parts of Sudan and driven more than 150,000 into neighbouring Chad.

Ismail said the government was helping get aid to refugees.

“We are sending security forces from southern Sudan to Darfur, where they are protecting corridors for humanitarian aid,” he said. Ismail was quoted in German.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has promised to disarm militias, begin political talks with rebels and provide access for international aid agencies as well as sending police to Darfur to protect civilians.

However, the United States said on Monday Sudan’s government had not done enough to halt a humanitarian crisis in Darfur and urged the United Nations to be ready to act against Khartoum if it fails to stop Arab militia attacking African villagers.

European Union foreign ministers also agreed on Monday to raise pressure on the Sudanese government and militias to end fighting. The bloc called for the disarmament of militias, demanded full access for humanitarian workers and threatened unspecified measures if the situation did not improve.