Security Council to discuss draft resolution, UN appeals for more aid

Ahead of a United Nations Security Council discussion of a draft resolution on Sudan, the UN was urgently appealing for more humanitarian aid for the troubled western region of Darfur, saying it had so far only received US $158 million of the required $349 million. UN spokesperson, Marie Okabe, told reporters in New York on Wednesday that an urgent donor response was needed both for the people in Darfur and for refugees who had fled to Chad. "The Secretary-General [Kofi Annan] has been appealing to governments worldwide to contribute or increase their financial support to this appeal," UN News quoted Okabe as saying. Annan was due to discuss the Darfur crisis with African leaders at a summit in Ghana on Thursday. Remi Oyo, spokesperson for Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, said in a statement that Obasanjo would chair the talks in his capacity as chairman of the African Union (AU). The summit had been convened "to discuss some peace initiatives in Sudan and Cote d'Ivoire," she said. The UN resolution, sponsored by the United States, urges Sudan to rein in the Janjawid militias who continue to attack civilians in Darfur. The conflict, between two rebel groups, Sudanese government forces and militia allied to the government, has displaced more than a million people. Another 180,000 people have fled to neighbouring Chad. Khartoum denies that it supports the activities of the Janjawid militia and on 3 July pledged to disarm them. A report is being awaited from a joint team of UN, Sudanese and relief officials that visited Darfur this week to verify whether Sudan was living up its commitment to disarm the militias and restore security in the region. An observer mission from the African Union (AU) said on Tuesday that the Janjawid had continued to commit atrocities in Darfur. The UN also reported that its officials had interviewed displaced women who had been raped recently by the militias as they gathered firewood or briefly returned to their home villages to retrieve belongings. In New York, the US ambassador to the UN, John Danforth, told reporters on Wednesday that it was crucial to increase pressure on Sudan. "There is a universal recognition that Darfur is a disaster, that the government of Sudan is culpable and that action on a very tight timeframe is essential," international news agencies quoted him as saying. In Cairo, Egypt, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters: "The international community has come together to put pressure on the Sudanese government to allow full access to the area for humanitarian workers and also for the Sudanese government to do everything in its power to stop the Janjawid militia and to bring security and stability to the region, so that people can return to their homes and can be taken care of until they can return to their homes." He added: "Additional action may be required on the part of the international community, and that’s why we have put forward a resolution before the Security Council in New York. Nobody wishes to make the situation any worse with respect to the imposition of sanctions, but at the same time pressure must be kept on the Sudanese government to make sure that access is allowed and that security is improving." But the Sudanese humanitarian affairs minister, Ibrahim Mahmud Hamid, told the London-based newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat on Tuesday that the situation in Darfur had improved. He said some food was now reaching the displaced. "After an extensive visit by the AU chief [Alpha Oumar Konare], it was clear that there is no genocide or ethnic cleansing. All African countries need to support Sudan. The AU decision is that the problem in Sudan is a domestic one and it is seeking to solve it with Sudan government. Also the Arab countries' decision is based on preserving safety, unity and stability of Sudan," he was quoted saying. But in a statement on Tuesday, the AU urged the Sudanese government to "expeditiously implement its commitment to neutralise and disarm the Janjawid militia and other armed groups, and to bring to justice the perpetrators of human rights abuses". The AU said militias, believed to be Janjawid fighters, had continued to loot and burn villages, leaving some villages deserted. Calling for the cantonment of rebel forces at mutually agreed sites, the AU urged the parties to the Darfur conflict - the government and the two rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army - to comply with a humanitarian ceasefire agreement signed on 8 April. The AU is trying to bring together the leaders of both rebel movements as well as the government to find a political solution to the 17-month conflict in Darfur. An earlier attempt however ended last week in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, before the government and the rebels had held any formal discussions. The rebels reportedly demanded the removal of government troops and Janjawid militias from Darfur as a precondition to political dialogue; a demand the government said was totally unrealistic. On Friday, AU and UN officials met in Geneva in an attempt to convince the rebels to negotiate with the government. Meanwhile the World Food Programme (WFP) reported that the first 25 of 120 all-terrain trucks had arrived in Port Sudan to help distribute relief supplies in Darfur, where many roads have become impassable by regular vehicles because of the annual rainy season. The trucks will be loaded with food and then driven more than 2,600 kilometres across Sudan to Darfur, WFP added, on a journey that could take three weeks.