US denounces Sudan for refusing visas to relief workers
WASHINGTON, April 28 (AFP) — The United States denounced as “unacceptable” Sudan’s continued refusal to grant visas to a US disaster response team to visit the crisis-torn western region of Darfur, accusing Khartoum of ignoring the urgent needs of the Sudanese people.
The State Department said Sudan had done little or nothing in response to repeated international appeals to permit relief workers to travel to the region, where a year-old war is estimated to have killed 10,000 people and uprooted a million more.
“They not only continue to hold up visas for our team, but they also continue to restrict the ability of the humanitarian community as a whole to respond to the crisis in Darfur,” deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said.
He took extreme issue with a senior Sudanese official, presidential advisor Gutbi al-Mahdi, who reportedly told journalists in Khartoum on Tuesday that the 28-strong US disaster response team was not needed in Darfur and would actually complicate the situation there.
“This we view as unacceptable,” Ereli said. “We strongly urge the government of Sudan to allow unimpeded access to Darfur immediately.
“In our view, their continued delay of access to humanitarian relief organizations and the international community is preventing assistance from reaching their own citizens, many of whom are in desperate need,” he said.
“It also draws into question (Khartoum’s) commitment to the well-being of the people of Sudan and their intent to resolve the situation in Darfur.”
A team from the UN World Food Program was expected in Darfur on Wednesday to assess the humanitarian situation in Darfur and Mahdi reportedly said their presence made the US team unnecessary.
The State Department has led the US charge to open Darfur to relief organizations and, on Tuesday, officials warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe there unless Khartoum immediately allows aid workers in and disarms pro-government militias in accordance with a ceasefire.
Andrew Natsios, the chief of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), accused the Sudanese government of holding up a “massive relief effort” by intentionally blocking access to Darfur and suggested Khartoum might be doing so in a bid to cover up widespread human rights abuses, including ethnic cleansing and systematic rape.
Natsios said Khartoum was withholding visas from the US team for reasons “totally unrelated” to Darfur that have to do with accreditation of Sudanese diplomats in Washington.