UN humanitarian chief says Sudan invites him to visit Darfur
April 8, 2006 (RIYADH) — UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said Saturday the Sudanese government had invited him to visit Darfur a few days after barring him from the war-torn region, but he had not yet decided if and when he would go.
“I was first barred from going there. Now we have received a letter from the (Sudanese) government asking me to come, saying I’m welcome,” he told reporters during a visit to Saudi Arabia.
“But we have not yet decided if and when I will endeavor to go back,” Egeland said, adding that the letter was received on Friday.
Egeland was to have started a tour of Darfur on Monday, but the UN official said Khartoum told him he was not welcome.
Sudan however denied barring Egeland from Darfur, saying it had instead asked that his visit be delayed because of “popular sentiment.”
Egeland, who is undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, dismissed Khartoum’s claim.
“If you come at the time that you’re invited and your plane is not allowed to land, it’s not a delay. It’s a ban,” he said.
Egeland said the UN wanted to be “absolutely sure” that a future trip goes well, “so it may take time before we organize it.”
He said he wanted to go to Darfur to raise awareness of the situation in the troubled western region, and Khartoum had actually “helped me tremendously to raise attention to what’s happening in Darfur” by aborting his trip.
Speaking in Nairobi Friday, Egeland, who was also denied overflight rights to see refugees housed in camps in neighboring Chad, faulted the international community for failing to protect millions of people in Darfur.
The conflict in Darfur erupted in February 2003 when rebels from minority black tribes rose up against the central government in Khartoum, prompting a heavy-handed crackdown by Arab-dominated troops and a proxy militia called the Janjaweed.
The fighting has left up to an estimated 300,000 people dead and displaced more than two million, hundreds of thousands of them camped in Chad.
Egeland, a Norwegian, said after talks with Saudi officials in Riyadh that conditions in Darfur were “getting increasingly difficult,” with non-governmental organizations “either (being) thrown out or (facing) severe obstacles to their work.”
The Sudanese authorities on Tuesday ordered the non-governmental group Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) that heads the Kamla main refugee camp in Darfur to leave the region immediately.
Egeland said he had discussed with Saudi officials “the need for more resources” and “the possibility to do more together in Darfur and Sudan at large.”
The UN official earlier visited southern Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, where he launched aid appeals on behalf of Somalia and the drought-stricken Horn of Africa.
In addition to aid for these areas, Egeland said he had sought a Saudi contribution to a UN Central Emergency Response Fund launched last month, to which 40 nations have already given 260 million dollars for immediate use in cases of disasters.
Egeland met with Riyadh Governor Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz, foreign ministry undersecretary for political affairs Prince Turki bin Mohammad bin Saud al-Kabeer, and Saudi Red Crescent officials.
He is due to hold talks with officials in the United Arab Emirates Sunday and to give a keynote speech at a humanitarian conference opening in Dubai Monday.
(ST/AFP)