U.S. delivers aid to Sudan’s Darfur region, seeks improved access

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2004 (AP) — The U.S. airlifted 20,000 blankets to the stricken Darfur province of Sudan on Tuesday but said assistance flows are being restricted by continued fighting in the area.

The U.S. Agency for International Development said the flight was the fifth humanitarian delivery to arrive in Nyala in South Darfur over the past week.

The first four contained 2,500 rolls of plastic sheeting from U.S. stockpiles in Dubai, enough to provide shelter for nearly 160,000 people.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said attacks by government-backed militias against Darfur rebels have been at a high level recently.

More than 800,000 people have been uprooted in the fighting, which erupted in 2003.

The crisis has persisted even as the Sudanese government and a southern-based rebel movement appear poised to end their 21-year war. A peace agreement is expected to be signed on Wednesday in Kenya.

Boucher said a U.S. disaster assistance team is due to arrive in Darfur on either Wednesday or Thursday to assess humanitarian needs. U.S. officials have been pressing the Sudanese government for weeks to provide such access.

In addition, Boucher said, violence is preventing “aid from reaching the recipients and in some cases makes the recipients not want to receive things because it makes them vulnerable to theft and pillaging.”

“It’s a terrible situation for the people there,” he added. The fighting involves Arab militias and Darfur’s black African population.

The U.S. and other members of the U.N. Security Council are discussing ways to pressure the Sudanese government to end the fighting and to lift restrictions on humanitarian access.

“We’re looking for the council to be ready to take appropriate action if the situation there doesn’t improve,” Boucher said.

A new report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said the world “must act urgently – and be prepared to use force if necessary – to save hundreds of thousands of civilians whose lives are at risk because of Sudan ‘s brutal counter-insurgency.”

It called for “immediate, focused action, especially from the U.N. Security Council, to stop the killing and widespread atrocities, prevent mass starvation, reverse ethnic cleansing, and encourage a peace process.”