Sudan says it has done enough to stave off UN action over Darfur

ABUJA, Aug 28 (AFP) — Sudan insisted on Saturday that it had done enough to ensure peace in the Darfur region to persuade the United Nations to drop its threat of action against it, on the eve of a UN Security Council deadline.

On July 30 the security council gave Khartoum 30 days to disarm the Janjaweed Arab militia, remove its army from around refugee camps and give humanitarian agencies access to Darfur’s 1.2 million displaced people.

UN envoys and rights groups have in recent days complained that militia attacks have continued and that refugees are being intimidated in the camps.

But Agriculture Minister Majzoub al-Khalifa, Sudan’s chief negotiator at African union peace talks in Abuja, said he did not expect measures to be taken by the international community to punish his government.

“We are doing our work sucessfully underground,” he told reporters.

“The interim report that goes to the Security Council suggest significant improvement in all the camps in Darfur and even outside the camps, where there are observer groups,” he added.

“There is now full access by different NGOs and UN agencies providing food, medicine, shelter. The interim report also indicates an increase in security inside the camps and outside the camps,” the minister said.

“With good intentions and having done all this, I do not think there will be any problem and we are not afraid of anything.

“And I think that the international community will realise that there is real progress on all sides — humanitarian, security and human rights sides.”

“The improvement on the ground on all issues should be taken into consideration by the Security Council and the international community and we are cooperating very well with them”, he said.

Al-Khalifa was speaking after a meeing of the African Union’s committee to monitor an April 9 ceasefire signed between Darfur’s two rebel groups and the Sudanese government. Both sides accuse the other of breaching the agreement.