UN envoy begins final mission to Darfur, Sudan before Security Council deadline

The senior United Nations envoy to Sudan today began his last mission to the war-torn Darfur region ahead of next week's meeting of the Security Council, which will decide whether the Government is making good on commitments to restore security and disarm the militias responsible for killings and massive displacement.

Jan Pronk, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Sudan, travelled to West Darfur state, on the start of a three-day mission with other members of the Joint Implementation Mechanism (JIM).

JIM was set up last month to ensure that the UN and Khartoum implement their pledges to alleviate the humanitarian crisis engulfing Darfur, where more than 1.2 million people are internally displaced and another 200,000 refugees have fled across the border into Chad.

Next week Mr. Pronk will brief the Security Council on the progress made by Khartoum, which had been given 30 days to take action or face possible measures under Article 41 of the UN Charter, including economic penalties and severing of diplomatic relations. The Council set the deadline in a resolution adopted on 30 July.

Under the Plan of Action agreed to with the UN, the Sudanese Government agreed to take steps to disarm the Janjaweed militias, accused of killing civilians and displacing thousands of people, and restore security to troubled Darfur.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said today that two other UN envoys are also in Darfur to monitor the latest developments. Mr. Pronk's deputy Manuel Aranda da Silva is travelling to South Darfur while the UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Erick De Mul is in North Darfur.