UN: ‘Sudan drags feet on Darfur’

KHARTOUM – Sudan has furnished the United Nations with a list of safe areas for victims of the fighting in the war-ravaged western region of Darfur, but the UN remains unimpressed with the pace of progress on the overall security situation.

Sudanese authorities on Sunday submitted to the UN a list of 11 areas that had been made secure and foreign minister Mustafa Ismail told reporters after talks with UN envoy Jan Pronk in Khartoum that the list had been drawn up in accordance with a plan of action thrashed out by the two men earlier this month. The creation of the so-called safe areas represent a crucial test of Sudan’s intention to implement a UN Security Council resolution that gives Khartoum until the end of this month to calm the situation in Darfur or face international action.How Khartoum decides to implement the demands of the resolution, which it accepted reluctantly, will set the tone of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s report to Council end of August, which will in turn determine the Council’s next move.With 14 days to go before Annan presents his report, the UN does not appear impressed with the pace of progress made so far, as a statement released by Pronk’s office on Sunday suggested.It said he has “expressed concern about the lack of progress registered so far on the ground and at the fact that the Janjaweed militia was still active around (camps for Internally Displaced Persons) and continued to be a threat”.The pro-government Arab Janjaweed militias have been blamed for many of the atrocities against African farmers in Darfur, a semi-desert region roughly the size of France, where the UN says the world’s worst humanitarian crisis is unfolding.However, Pronk, the UN chief’s representative for Sudan, commended Khartoum for the few positive moves it has made in recently days, including the plan on securing certain areas in the region for the IDPs.- Nampa-AFPThe creation of the so-called safe areas represent a crucial test of Sudan’s intention to implement a UN Security Council resolution that gives Khartoum until the end of this month to calm the situation in Darfur or face international action.How Khartoum decides to implement the demands of the resolution, which it accepted reluctantly, will set the tone of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s report to Council end of August, which will in turn determine the Council’s next move.With 14 days to go before Annan presents his report, the UN does not appear impressed with the pace of progress made so far, as a statement released by Pronk’s office on Sunday suggested.It said he has “expressed concern about the lack of progress registered so far on the ground and at the fact that the Janjaweed militia was still active around (camps for Internally Displaced Persons) and continued to be a threat”.The pro-government Arab Janjaweed militias have been blamed for many of the atrocities against African farmers in Darfur, a semi-desert region roughly the size of France, where the UN says the world’s worst humanitarian crisis is unfolding.However, Pronk, the UN chief’s representative for Sudan, commended Khartoum for the few positive moves it has made in recently days, including the plan on securing certain areas in the region for the IDPs.- Nampa-AFP