Annan arrives in Khartoum on Darfur mission
KHARTOUM, June 30 (AFP) — UN Secretary General Kofi Annan arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Wednesday to start a mission focused on the western region of Darfur, described by the United Nations as the world’s worst current humanitarian crisis.
An AFP correspondent at the airport said Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail welcomed Annan. The two men are to hold talks later on Wednesday after the secretary general has met UN staff in Khartoum.
Annan, who has already urged the Sudanese government to act on the crisis,
is to meet Vice-President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha on Wednesday evening, along with other officials, including Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamed, and Interior Minister General Ibrahim Mohammed Hussein.
He is also due to talk with visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell who on Wednesday headed for the region of El Fashir, the provincial capital of North Darfur, to get a glimpse of conditions there for himself.
Powell met Sudan’s President Omar al-Beshir and Ismail late Tuesday and outlined three main demands: rein in state-sponsored Arab militias accused of massive human rights abuses, open Darfur to relief workers and start talks with the region’s two ethnic minority rebel movements.
“Unless we see more moves soon in all these areas, it may be necessary for the international community to begin considering other actions, to include (UN) Security Council action,” he told reporters after meeting Beshir.
Such action would likely include punitive sanctions on Sudan.
On Thursday, Annan is due to visit a camp for displaced people in Darfur and then travel on to neighbouring Chad which has given shelter to some 100,000 refugees from Darfur.
“The Sudanese government should facilitate the entry of equipment for humanitarian activities and support,” Annan told a press conference on Tuesday in Doha.
The government should also “forbid the militia, particularly the Janjawid, from attacking people.”
“The responsibility of the government of Sudan is to protect their citizens … If that government is not able or willing to do it, the international community has to do something about it,” Annan said.
More than 10,000 people have died in Darfur and more than a million been driven from their homes since the revolt against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum broke out among indigenous ethnic minorities in February 2003.
On July 2, Annan is due to visit a refugee camp on the Chadian side of the border before returning to Khartoum for further meetings with the government.