UN envoy meets Sudanese officials for Darfur aid talks

KHARTOUM, Sept 13 (AFP) — A UN envoy has held talks with Sudanese officials on ways to deliver aid to the displaced by fighting in the Darfur region of western Sudan, the official SUNA news agency reported Saturday.

International Cooperation Minister Yousuf Suleiman Tekenah met the UN secretary general’s envoy for humanitarian affairs, Tom Vraaslen, to discuss planned development projects in the three states of Darfur, it said.

Vraaslen on Friday returned from a three-day inspection tour of the humanitarian situation in Darfur region, where government troops have battled rebel forces.

Tekenah’s ministry, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, is to organise workshops in Darfur towns for developing human resources and work plans, the Sudanese official said.

He laid the blame for conflicts in Darfur on the collapse of development projects operating in Darfur in the 1990s due to the withdrawal of foreign partners for political reasons.

Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid also discussed with Vraaslen arrangements for delivery of humanitarian aid to the displaced persons in Greater Darfur and other regions affected by civil war in Sudan.