UN goodwill ambassador urges Arabs to help children in Sudan’s Darfur

KHARTOUM, Mar 3 (AFP) — A United Nations goodwill ambassador called on the Arab world to offer more assistance to suffering children in Sudan’s troubled western region of Darfur.

Mahmud Qabil, a prominent Egyptian actor and goodwill ambassador for the UN children’s fund (UNICEF), made the appeal after touring camps housing some of the estimated 1.6 million people displaced by the conflict.

“I take this opportunity to appeal to Arab countries to offer assistance to the children who are suffering in Darfur,” said Qabil at a joint news conference with UNICEF representative Keith Mackenzie.

A UN commission of inquiry in January found government security forces and their Arab militia allies guilty of gross human rights violations in the two-year-old conflict with ethnic minority rebels in Darfur.

Qabil said only 25 percent of displaced children currently had access to education, and appealed for donations to help UNICEF achieve its target of raising that proportion to 75 percent in coming months.