Violence, red tape and poor access are jeopardising international relief operations in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes said on Monday. "If we don't deal with those problems, [the] humanitarian effort could begin to unravel with catastrophic effects for the civilian population," he told a news conference.
Holmes, wrapping up his first visit to Sudan, drew up a long list of obstacles hindering what is considered to be the world's largest ongoing humanitarian operation. The Sudanese military blocked him from entering a camp for displaced people in Darfur on Saturday, in an incident he called symptomatic of the problems aid organisations face in the area.
According to the UN, at least 200 000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced in Darfur since the conflict erupted in February 2003. Some sources say the death toll is much higher. President Omar al-Bashir, who has consistently rejected a UN peacekeeping deployment in Darfur, is expected to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday's Arab summit in Riyadh. British diplomat Holmes, who succeeded Norway's Jan Egeland on March 1, heads on Tuesday to Chad and the Central African Republic, two countries which have suffered from a spill-over of the Darfur conflict. |