Rice blames Sudan government over Darfur

SAVANNAH, Georgia, June 7 (AFP) — The White House warned that Sudan’s troubled region of Darfur is a “brewing disaster” for which Sudan’s government bears much of the blame.

Darfur is a brewing disaster for which the Sudanese government bears a lot of responsibility,” said national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. “We will look to them to act responsibly to defuse that crisis.”

Darfur is in the throes of what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, prompted by a rebel conflict that began in February 2003, and which has led to fierce and widely condemned retaliation by government forces and allied militia.

At least 10,000 people are believed to have died and an estimated one million people have fled the impoverished region following attacks by government troops and an allied militia, with more than 100,000 of them taking refuge in neighbouring Chad, according to UN figures.

Humanitarian fears now focus on the failure to have planted crops before the impending rainy season, with some agencies predicting mass starvation in the region.