Sudan denies banning US officials from visit to troubled Darfur province

KHARTOUM, Nov 10 (AFP) — The Sudanese government on Monday denied it banned US officials from visiting South Darfur state in the west of the country to monitor humanitarian programmes, saying they failed to follow procedures.

The US embassy the previous day expressed “regrets” that American officials were barred on Sunday from visiting the troubled state.

The visit was authorised by the foreign ministry but then barred by the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), a government agency, the embassy said in a statement.

But HAC acting commissioner Hassabu Mohamed Abdel Rahman said US embassy officials and representatives of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had failed to fill in the special form required for foreigners.

“We don’t have any problem with the US embassy nor with USAID, and we very much appreciate the great role being played by the USAID in offering humanitarian assistance to Sudan,” he said.

“We only appeal to the American officials to abide by the rules which have originally been made for the protection of travelling foreigners,” said Abdel Rahman.

“We have nothing against the US embassy or USAID, and we are prepared to give them travel permits in 24 hours after the form is filled and tendered,” said the HAC official.

The embassy said that USAID administrator Andrew Natsios visited the Darfur region two weeks ago and found that hundreds of thousands of people were in need of assistance.

“The embassy believes that the present climate, including a ceasefire agreement, should permit free travel throughout Sudan and encourage the government of Sudan to remove barriers to free movement,” it said.

Khartoum and Darfur rebels decided Tuesday to extend a Chadian-brokered ceasefire agreed in September for another 10 days while they pursue negotiations in neighbouring Chad.