UN envoy criticises obstruction by government

United Nations Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland, said the decision of the Sudanese authorities to block his visit to Darfur and refugee camps in neighbouring Chad was symptomatic of the lack of government cooperation in solving the problems in the troubled western Sudanese region. "In Sudan today, the United Nations is coordinating the biggest humanitarian operation in the world. Not allowing me to come and do my work - coordinating the work of the United Nations - is just one of the examples of an increasing tendency of obstructions of our work as humanitarian workers, being the lifeline to three million people in Darfur," Egeland told journalists in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi on Tuesday. He reported that the Sudanese government had also ordered the Norwegian Refugee Council - which manages Kalma camp, the largest camp for internally displaced persons in Darfur - to leave the region by Wednesday. The organisation would not be allowed to return. "It is totally essential work in one of the most difficult conditions possible: Kalma camp with 100,000 IDPs [internally displaced persons]. I fear now, with the Norwegian Refugee Council gone, there will be less protection for the IDPs, there will be deteriorating services and many civilians will suffer," Egeland said. The government was also preventing many other NGOs from doing their work in the region, and the recent imposition of a fuel embargo in southern Darfur meant no one could operate their water wells. "They [the NGOs] are constantly blocked. They have totally unreasonable restrictions on their activities," Egeland said. "If the government really actively tried to facilitate our work - like it happens in most other countries in the world - we would see a dramatic change to the better, because immediately we would be much more effective." Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General, said that Kofi Annan regretted Egeland was not permitted to visit Darfur and that he would take up the issue with Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir. Dujarric pointed out that Egeland's trip had been planned well in advance, with all the necessary green lights given by the Sudanese authorities. One Sudanese official stressed the government did not intend to obstruct the visit by the UN's top humanitarian official. "The government of Sudan emphasises its full cooperation with the United Nations and welcomes Egeland's visit to Sudan," said Jamal Mohamed Ibrahim, spokesman for the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Tuesday. "The government asked Egeland to postpone his visit to Khartoum and Darfur until the end of the Prophet Mohammed birthday celebrations, which are taking place right now [and last until the end of the week]," he said. Egeland, however, felt the main reason for the government's decision was to prevent him seeing the tens of thousands of recently displaced people, as well as the obstructions to humanitarian work and the lack of protection of civilians. "The only way we can avoid a massive loss of lives - massive - is by enabling this humanitarian operation, which is on the ground, to be able to do its job," he said. "It is urgent that the attitude of the government changes. If the government is not able to care for its own citizens, is not able to protect its own citizens, provide for its own citizens in Darfur, they should enable our work, and not obstruct our work." Although the humanitarian situation had improved in 2005 after the massive loss of lives in 2004, Egeland feared the situation would deteriorate this year. He said humanitarian organisations had already lost contact with 300,000 of the three million people who depended on international assistance, because of insecurity and other obstacles to their operations. "Now, we see an increase in mortality; we see an increase in war deaths; we see an increase in displacement again," he observed. "I think it is again becoming, perhaps, the worst crisis in the world, because I know of few other places where we have lost access to so many people and where we have had so large displacements of late. We are slipping, as we are hanging in there with our fingernails in Darfur."