UN’s Egeland to visit Sudan Saturday

May 2, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland is to arrive in Sudan next Saturday on an official five-day visit, the Foreign Ministry announced.

Spokesman of the Foreign Ministry Jamal Ibrahim said that the visit of the UN official aimed to assess situations and humanitarian operations supervised by the United Nations in Sudan.

Ibrahim added that Egeland would meet senior officials in the state and he would pay a visit to Darfur.

Earlier last month, Egeland said Sudanese government refused to allow him to visit Darfur because of a Muslim holiday and indicated he was not welcome in the capital Khartoum. He was also refused permission to fly over Darfur to visit Sudanese refugees in neighbouring Chad.

Sudan’s foreign ministry said that Jan Egeland had been asked only to postpone his visit and would be welcome later.

Egeland expressed frustration at a string of delays that prevented his visit to Darfur.

Reasons given for the postponement of Egeland’s Darfur visit include his Norwegian nationality, following the controversy over Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, and the closure of airports in Darfur for maintenance.

Two million Darfuris have abandoned their homes and tens of thousands have been killed in the three-year conflict which has left many living in squalid camps for the past two years.

(ST)