UN donors mission in Sudan starts work

KHARTOUM, Mar 13, 2005 (Xinhua) — The United Nations’ mission began Sunday assessing the situation in Sudan ahead of a meeting of donor nations in Oslo, Norway next month.

Unidentified displaced Sudanese women try to rebuild their tents in El-Geer refugee camp near Nyala in the Darfur area of Sudan on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2004. Inhabitants were later forced to move to another refugee camp. (AP).

The Sudanese Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs briefed the mission on the urgent needs of people in the conflict-plagued areas and how to distribute the relief goods.

Radia Achouri, spokeswoman for the special envoy of UN Secretary General to Sudan, said the mission’s visit was aimed at identifying the urgent requirements for reconstruction and development.

The UN official added that the mission would pay visits to the west, the south and the east of Sudan to see the situations on the ground.

The Sudanese government signed a comprehensive peace deal with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Nairobi last January to end a 21-year-old civil war in southern Sudan.

The international community has promised support to the largest African country for the implementation of the peace agreement.

Another civil war flared up, however, in the western region of Darfur in February 2003 when two rebel groups took arms accusing Khartoum of neglect.