Sudan is trying to force Darfur's displaced to return home - UN agencies

United Nations humanitarian agencies said today that the Sudanese Government is increasingly pressuring internally displaced people (IDPs) within the troubled Darfur region to return to their homes, even though the beleaguered civilians remain afraid of militia attacks and security has still not improved.

Already more than 11,000 people have been relocated forcibly, and Khartoum wants to move IDPs in Mornei, one of West Darfur's biggest camps, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.

On Saturday, at a meeting of the Joint Implementation Mechanism (JIM) - the body set up to monitor the pledges made in the recent communiqué by the UN and Sudan - UN officials told Sudan that there has been "no progress" on security and protecting IDPs.

The officials said IDPs were afraid of returning to their home villages because they feared attacks by the Janjaweed, Arab-dominated militias allied to the Government.

More than 1 million people have been uprooted since fighting broke out early last year between the Sudanese Government and two rebel groups, and the Janjaweed began carrying out deadly attacks against local black Africans.

OCHA said the number of IDPs in Darfur has swelled by 100,000 in the past month, with fresh groups of people arriving daily at the numerous IDP camps across the region.

While there have been improvements in allowing humanitarian access to Darfur, OCHA said, some staff have been stopped at checkpoints because local security officials did not recognize the newer, less onerous forms. Many agencies are also finding it difficult to recruit nationals to help with health care.

But the number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Darfur has surged from about 170 at the end of May to a predicted 500 at the end of this month. OCHA said, however, that not all areas of Darfur have a humanitarian presence.

Meanwhile, on his return to UN Headquarters today, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he will be briefed this afternoon by Jan Pronk, his Special Representative for Sudan, about the content and progress of talks conducted last week in Khartoum.

Mr. Pronk is tentatively scheduled to brief the Security Council on Wednesday morning on the latest developments in Sudan.