UN to meet on Darfur crisis
The United Nations Security Council is expected to meet on the ethnic conflict and humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region, a UN spokesperson said.
UN spokesman Fred Eckhard on Friday said the situation in Darfur had deteriorated because insufficient measures had been taken to stop the fighting.
“All would agree that not enough has been done to bring the security situation under control,” Eckhard said.
Given the urgency on the ground, the 15-nation council will meet on Monday at the request of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Eckhard said.
Raging conflict
Armed militias and rebel groups have been fighting in the western region, displacing more than 1.6 million people and killing tens of thousands.
Jan Egeland, the coordinator for UN humanitarian affairs, began a five-day visit in Sudan on Thursday, during which he is to meet government authorities as well as leaders of the former opposition group in southern Sudan.
Khartoum and rebels in southern Sudan signed a peace agreement in January to end decades of civil war.
The UN said hundreds of thousands of displaced people in southern Sudan were prepared to return home after the peace agreement, but resources were not in place to welcome them.
Egeland planned also to visit Darfur to study the situation before reporting back to headquarters in New York.