Sudanese FM warns of dire humanitarian needs in Darfur after ceasefire

Saturday April 10th, 2004.

KHARTOUM, April 10 (AFP) -- Sudan's foreign minister warned Saturday that thousands of displaced people in the country's western Darfur region were in "dire need" of aid two days after Khartoum agreed a ceasefire with rebels.

Mustafa Osman Ismail, on a peace mission in the area, was speaking to AFP one day after visiting a camp near the northern Darfur town of Kutum that hosts 65,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled the fighting.

"The displaced people in Kassab camp will run short of food, medicines and other sanitary services in only a few days," Ismail said by telephone from Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state.

Ismail said the 65,000 IDPs at the camp were in "dire need" of food, blankets, sanitation and medicines that were "drying up."

The Darfur conflict, which erupted in February 2003 and is seen by the United Nations as the world's worst current humanitarian disaster, has claimed more than 10,000 lives and forced nearly 800,000 people to flee their homes.

Ismail visited the camp with fellow Sudanese ministers, UN, US and French government representatives based in Khartoum.

Pledging to dispatch the necessary relief before the rains begin in mid- May, Ismail called on the international community to "urgently" provide Antonov and other cargo planes to help deliver the supplies to Kutum and other camps.

Returning refugees have "complained of the absence of international NGOs (non-governmental organisations) in spite of the fact that the security situation there is stable," the foreign minister also told AFP.

The delegation met West Darfur state officials and members of UN agencies and international relief organisations in Geneina, 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border with Chad, he said.

Ismail is to head to South Darfur state later Saturday on his mission, conducted on behalf of a ministerial committee set up to address Darfur's security and humanitarian situation.

Late Thursday, Khartoum and Darfur insurgents concluded a ceasefire mediated by Chadian government officials in Chad's capital Ndjamena.

Under the terms of the deal, the parties agreed to cease hostilities within 72 hours, for a renewable period of 45 days.

They also agreed to guarantee safe passage for aid to the stricken region, free prisoners of war and disarm militias who have been blamed for much of the violence.

Ismail told AFP that his government was "fully committed to implementing all provisions of the agreement," and had begun to inform the relevant authorities across Darfur of the terms of the truce.