Khartoum Blames Darfur Rebels for Blocking Aid

Wednesday March 24th, 2004.

KHARTOUM, March 24 (AFP) -- The Sudanese government held rebels from west Sudan's troubled Darfur region responsible for blocking deliveries of humanitarian aid, during a meeting with a senior US relief official.
"The armed groups constitute the main obstacle to the delivery of relief in Darfur," State Foreign Minister Al-Tigani Salih Fidhail told reporters, calling on the international community to hold the rebels "fully responsible."

"The America official has no specific ideas about facilitating delivery of relief to the people affected by the conflict in Darfur but is here for reactivating USAID operations in Sudan," he said.

He was referring to his meeting he and Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid held here earlier with assistant USAID administrator Roger Winter.

Fidhail also said his government was willing to take part in a conference Chad has reportedly offered to host between Khartoum and the Darfur rebels.

"We are ready to negotiate peace with any party but we reject any preconditions," said Fidail.

The main Darfur faction, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), has reportedly said it would participate in such a conference, but only if US and European Union officials were present and the Americans guaranteed their safety.

A rebellion erupted a year ago in the states of North Darfur, West Darfur and South Darfur over allegations the government had neglected to develop the impoverished region neighboring Chad.

The United Nations said the conflict, which has only recently begun to receive serious international attention, had killed more than 10,000 people and affected more than a million others.