Security Council expects to meet in Kenya on Sudan’s Darfur crisis – President

The United Nations Security Council is considering holding a two-day meeting next month in Nairobi, Kenya, primarily to discuss the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, the permanent representative of the United Kingdom, which holds the rotating Council presidency for October, said today.

In answer to reporters’ questions outside the Council chamber, Ambassador Sir Emyr Jones Parry said, “I think we are moving to a position where soon we will formalize the decision, but I expect the decision – clearly the Council will meet in Nairobi on18 and 19 November. It would be primarily to talk about the situation in the whole of Sudan, focusing perhaps especially on the political processes.”

Council members would also take advantage of their presence there to discuss with the African Union (AU) other issues, such as the UN relationship with the AU and Kenya’s peace-building efforts in the region, he said.

The news encounter came after the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland, briefed the Council on a range of African issues, including the crisis in the western Sudanese territory of Darfur.

Mr. Egeland told journalists that security had replaced access as the most pressing need in the Darfur crisis, and he appealed for every effort to be made to bring in the African Union’s (AU) promised reinforcements for its observer mission. Western donors would have to help the AU with deployment funding, he said.

Of the 780 humanitarian aid workers in the region, some had been killed, harassed or kidnapped. The problem was not solely humanitarian access, but security for aid workers, Mr. Egeland said.

The AU has promised to send in 3,000 troops, but lack of funding has delayed their arrival.

Mr. Egeland said he noted the progress made in Darfur to the extent that more than 1 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been provided with food, water, sanitation and other humanitarian services.

“We are exceeding many of the goals we set ourselves two months ago, however, the goal post has been pushed miles ahead of us because so many more people have been affected,” he added.

He estimated the number in desperate need but not being reached as in the hundreds of thousands.