UN humanitarian chief in Sudan

March 21, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — UN emergency relief coordinator John Holmes arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday for a week-long visit, his first since taking up the post on March 1, Sudanese officials said.

The British diplomat, who succeeded Jan Egeland of Norway, is expected to meet senior officials before going to Juba in southern Sudan, said Sirajeddine Hamed, head of the foreign ministry’s peace and humanitarian affairs department.

Holmes then plans to travel the strife-torn western region of Darfur, where a four-year civil war has killed more than 200,000 people according to UN figures, although some sources say the toll is much higher.

In a report published this month, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that on January 1, the number of people internally displaced by the conflict had topped two million.

On Wednesday, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) warned that camps for internally displaced persons were nearing maximum capacity, with 3,000 people uprooted in February alone.

“We simply cannot absorb any more displaced,” said UNICEF country representative Ted Chaiban, after a visit to Darfur.

The United Nations and non-governmental organisations have systematically complained of difficult working conditions in Darfur, blaming both Sudanese troops and rebel groups for the violence.

Holmes’ trip comes amid strong international pressure, mainly from the United States, to get Sudan to accept UN troops in Darfur, a proposal Khartoum has consistently rejected.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ali Sadek, reiterated on Wednesday Khartoum’s position to “defend its sovereignty,” and said Sudan would not bow to the US threat of sanctions.

The United States “as a world power should use diplomacy to establish security in the world,” Sadek was quoted by the official SUNA agency, adding that “Sudan is open to dialogue over the Darfur crisis.”

(AFP)