UN’s Annan says Action on Sudan may be taken within the Week

The UN Security Council has warned that it could take action on the Darfur crisis in Sudan within the next week, Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported. He put forward the point that “more can and should be done” in efforts to improve security in the war-torn region and urged international support for the African monitors that have been set up there.

Kofi Annan has been attending separate meetings with a former Sudanese Prime Minister and a rebel leader, and was talking to reporters on his arrival at the UN headquarters on Tuesday 8th September.

Although he reported last week to the Council that an improvement in granting humanitarian access to Darfur had been seen, he once again warned that serious security problems persisted. He said Khartoum “must re-double its efforts to protect the population" of an estimated 1.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs).

He continued, “Obviously the situation on the ground could be better. We are not satisfied with the security front. We believe that more can and should be done.”

Annan then went on to advise the Council to expand the size of its force of African Union (AU) monitors from its “woefully inadequate” number. He insisted on this greater number being introduced to better protect the IDP’s and to further restore security to the region.

"I hope the international community will support them [the AU monitoring force] financially, logistically and also in other ways."

The report given by Annan to the Council also told how the Janjaweed militia had carried out a “scorched-earth policy” against the civilians of Darfur since the conflict had begun early last year when rebel groups moved against the Khartoum government.

A particularly worrying statement from the UN secretary-general came when he reported that most of the militia still had not been disarmed and continued to carry out attacks, killings, rapes and assaults against villagers.

Annan met with El Sadiq El Mahdi, the former Sudanese Prime Minister, and John Garang, leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), on the situation in Darfur and peace talks taking place in Naivasha, Kenya, to end the separate civil war in the country’s south.

A UN spokesperson said that Garang and Annan had discussed the need to intensify efforts to resolve the crisis and to complete the Naivasha talks.

El Mahdi was reported to have expressed the importance of the international community, especially the Security Council, remaining involved in the crisis and to pressurise all sides to fulfil their commitments.