No progress in security for Sudan’s displaced civilians, U.N. says

NEW YORK, July 19,2004 (dpa) — The Sudanese government has failed to improve security and protection for people displaced by war in the western Darfur region, the United Nations said Monday.

The total number of displaced increased by 100,000 last month and has now reached more than a million in Sudan, the U.N. said.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said a panel monitoring implementation of agreements reached by Khartoum and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan met over the weekend, concluding that no progress was made on security and protection for the displaced.

“Instead, air raids and attacks by the Janjaweed and government- aligned militias were making the displaced too afraid to return to their villages,” a statement by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in New York said.

But the U.N. said access to the displaced people by relief agencies has improved and Khartoum has eased bureaucratic measures for relief workers to reach the displaced.

The agreements between Khartoum and Annan earlier this month called on the government to disarm the Arab militias known as Janjaweed, which are supported by Khartoum, and improve visa procedures for relief workers. The Janjaweed have been accused of atrocities in Darfur ranging from rape and wanton killing of civilians.

The U.N. said the number of international relief workers operating in Darfur was expected to reach 500 by the end of July from the original 170 in May. It said some areas in Darfur, particularly the north and the Jebal Marra, badly need the presence of humanitarian workers