UN delegation arrives in Sudan

A high-level U.N. delegation arrived in Sudan on Tuesday to press a reluctant government to accept a large force of United Nations peacekeepers in the strife-torn region of Darfur. Lakhdar Brahimi, a special envoy to the secretary general, and Hedi Annabi, the deputy head of U.N. peacekeeping, are scheduled to meet President Omar al-Bashir and Sudan legislators during their four-day visit, said U.N. spokesman Bahar Elkoussy.

"The overall aim of the visit is to discuss the implementation of the Darfur peace agreement and speed up the arrival of a UN peacekeeping force," Elkoussy said. Last week, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution that provides for a large U.N. force to take over peacekeeping in Darfur from an under-resourced African Union mission that has been unable to stop the violence in the western region, where a three-year rebellion and counter-insurgency has cost more than 180,000 lives and the displacement of 2.5 million people.

The government and the biggest rebel group in Darfur signed a peace agreement on May 5 that called for a cease-fire within 72 hours and the eventual disarmament of all militia. But the cease-fire was ignored and scores of people have been killed in subsequent fighting involving government troops and various armed groups. The U.N. delegation arrived a day after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported that Sudan's government was violating international humanitarian law by barring fuel, food and relief aid to civilians in Darfur.

The report to the Security Council said the people of Darfur had been exposed to increased violence in recent months and aid groups had cut back their relief programs because of insufficient funding. Elkoussy said the envoys' first job would be to try to persuade the government to grant visas to a U.N. assessment team that would prepare for the transfer of the African Union peacekeeping mission to the U.N. force.

He said he did not know when the evaluation team would arrive. "It all depends on the Sudanese government," he said, adding that the United Nations was optimistic that Khartoum would respect the Security Council resolution. The government has long resisted a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur, arguing that an African problem should be handled by African troops. While it did say it would accept a U.N. force once a peace agreement was signed, it responded coolly to the Security Council resolution. A former foreign minister of Algeria, Ibrahimi is a widely experienced U.N. troubleshooter, having been a special envoy in Afghanistan and Iraq, reports the AP.

N.U.

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