Top US diplomat pushes Sudan to resolve Darfur crisis

WASHINGTON, Aug 31 (AFP) — A senior US diplomat visiting Sudan on Tuesday pushed the government in Khartoum to redouble their efforts to resolve the crisis the strife-torn western province of Darfur, the State Department said.

Constance Newman, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, met Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha and the foreign, interior and humanitarian affairs ministers as well as tribal leaders, department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

“She’ll be pressing the government of Sudan on the need to comply with UN Security Council resolutions … and the upcoming review that the Council will make of whether further measures are required,” Boucher said.

Newman, who on Monday visited refugee camps in Darfur to examine the humanitarian crisis, is due to return to Washington on Wednesday, he added.

The UN Security Council is set to examine the Darfur situation on Thursday, one month after the council adopted a resolution giving the Sudanese government 30 days to re-establish security in Darfur and aid the population or face sanctions.

Nearly 200,000 people from Sudan’s western Darfur region have been forced to flee into neighboring Chad by fighting between the government, backed by its Arab militia allies, and two ethnic minority rebel groups.

According to the United Nations, a total of 1.4 million people have been driven from their homes in Darfur since the fighting started in February of last year, while between 30,000 and 50,000 have been killed.