Annan meets with Sudan officials on Darfur

By MOHAMED OSMAN

KHARTOUM, Sudan, May 27, 2005 (AP) — U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan met with top Sudanese officials on Friday to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis and security conditions in Sudan’s restive western Darfur region.

Sudan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mustafa Ismail Osman speaks at a news conference as the United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan looks on in the capital Khartoum May 27, 2005. (Reuters).

Before the meeting, dozens of women presented Annan with a written protest saying any Sudanese suspected of war crimes should be tried in Sudan, not the International Criminal Court as called for by a U.N. resolution. A second resolution strengthens an arms embargo and imposes an asset freeze on those who defy peace efforts.

“In the name of women and children, and in the name of the elderly, we call for halting this scenario. Leave us to enjoy peace,” said the statement from members of the Sudanese Women General Union, handed over by union secretary Raja Hassan Khalifa.

Sudan has rejected both resolutions. President Omar el-Bashir has said he would not give any Sudanese to an international authority for trial.

Annan said the United Nations expected the resolution to be honored.

“We indicated that the Council expects that the spirit and the letter of the resolution will be respected,” Annan said.

Annan was to travel to Darfur on Saturday to asses conditions, before returning to Khartoum. Annan arrived in Sudan a day after telling an international donors conference in Ethiopia that the world was facing a “race against time” to prevent Darfur’s situation from worsening.

“We discussed the need for us to do everything we can to bring security to Darfur, and ensure that the farmers can go back to their land, plant it, cultivate and harvest their crops. Otherwise we are going to have a major humanitarian effort which will stretch the capacities of the international community,” Annan said after the meeting with Sudanese officials.

By Friday, donors had pledged $300 million in cash and more in kind to help the African Union expand its peacekeeping mission in Darfur, said AU spokesman Adam Thiam.

The African Union says it needs $466 million to more than triple its existing force of 2,270 and to equip it with six helicopter gunships, 116 armored personnel carriers and fuel by September.

At least 180,000 people have died – many from hunger and disease – and about 2 million others have fled their homes in Darfur to escape the conflict.

The conflict erupted when rebels took up arms against what they saw as years of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of African origin. The government is accused of responding with a counterinsurgency campaign in which government-backed Arab militiamen known as Janjaweed committed wide-scale abuses against the African population.

Annan was also to meet with top Sudanese officials to discuss the implementation of a peace agreement signed earlier this year between the government and southern rebels, according to a statement from his office.

He was also expected to fly to the southern city of Juba, where the U.N. has peacekeeping troops stationed. Annan had meetings planned with John Garang, leader of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army and Sudanese President Bashir.