Powell heads for Darfur, Annan arrives in Sudan

By Saul Hudson

KHARTOUM, June 30 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell left for Sudan’s troubled Darfur region on Wednesday on a trip aid agencies said could save lives by putting the pressure on Khartoum to curb Arab militias and streamline relief work.

As Powell took off from the Sudanese capital, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Khartoum on a similar mission, demonstrating the high-level international interest in the plight of some two million Darfuris affected by conflict.

Foreign aid officials said Powell’s visit to a camp for people forced to leave their homes in Darfur could pressure the Sudanese government to ease the crisis and save lives.

Powell’s trip to the scene of what is widely described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis will also highlight the need for aid and may spur other governments and institutions to help the Darfuris, they said.

Powell and Annan have warned Khartoum of possible Security Council action if its does not act against the Janjaweed Arab militias, which have been driving black Darfuris from their homes, and lift restrictions on access by relief organisations.

Since Powell’s visit was first announced last week, donors have been much more willing to provide aid, Marcus Prior of the World Food Programme said: “It has major ramifications for our work in Darfur,” he said.

“Our best hope is to limit the human cost and these visits come when we have a small window of opportunity before the rains come to pressure the international community to scale up operations and make the government sort out security,” Greg Elder of Medecins Sans Frontieres told Reuters.

U.N. CONCERNS

Some U.N. officials said they feared Powell, by bunching together U.S. and U.N. concerns, might encourage the view that the United Nations is driven by U.S. policy.

Powell is under pressure in Congress to do more. On Tuesday, he told Sudanese leaders to crack down on the militias whose actions he said verged on genocide against black residents.

A senior U.S. official said up to a million people could die this year in camps because the government-backed Janjaweed have razed villages, burned crops and destroyed water sources.

A million Darfuris have fled their homes in the past 18 months because of fighting in the arid region between the Janjaweed and government forces on the one hand and two rebel groups who say they are acting to protect the villagers.

Relief organisations are racing to take food and medicine to camps before the imminent rainy season will cut off vast areas.

The Sudanese government rejects charges it supports the Janjaweed and plays down the severity of the crisis.

“SHOW CAMP”

U.S. officials and aid workers said they expected Powell’s government hosts to try to mask the reality on the ground, where hundreds of thousands of people are malnourished and face spreading disease in many of the overcrowded camps.

Powell said his visit of a few hours to Darfur, including Abu Shouk camp late on Wednesday, would form only a small part of his understanding of the crisis: “It’s a show camp,” said one aid worker. “It’s the best I’ve seen.”

Still, aid officials said the symbolism of the visit mattered far more than any evidence Powell might gather.

“I know what can be arranged,” Powell said. “I think I can sort out where people are constrained from speaking.

“I think we are getting the world’s attention … Sometimes people have to see it, they have to read about it, they have to see it on television,” he added.