Special UN meeting on Sudan “momentous:” Sudanese sources

CAIRO, Nov 16, 2004 (Xinhua) — Well-informed Sudanese sources in Cairo said Tuesday that an upcoming meeting of the UN Security Council on the Darfur issue to be held in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Nov. 18-19 will be “momentous” to Sudan, Egypt’s official MENA news agency reported.

The council will issue “important” resolutions pertaining to settling the Darfur crisis and other problems in Sudan, the sources were quoted as saying.

They expected that the meeting would seek to support a comprehensive program, under which donor countries will be required to write off Sudan’s debts as soon as a final agreement is reached.

The ambassadors of member states of the UN Security Council plan to travel to Kenya on Tuesday to press for an end to a 21-year-old civil war between the Sudanese government and southern rebels and to help stop a bloody conflict in the western region of Darfur.

The civil has killed an estimated 2 million people, while clashes in Darfur, which flared up in 2003, have so far killed many people.