UN aid chief cuts Darfur visit short after being denied travel permission due to insecurity

The top United Nations aid official today cut short his visit to Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region and returned to Khartoum after the Government denied him permission to travel outside the state capitals, warning it was too dangerous, a UN spokesman said.

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland, who is making his fourth visit to Darfur, met some of those displaced by the escalating violence in the region yesterday, when he said security was now worse than ever.

“[Mr. Egeland] …returned to Khartoum today, two days earlier than scheduled, after he was denied permission to travel beyond Darfur’s state capitals by the Government of Sudan, for unspecified security reasons,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York.

“Mr. Egeland had originally planned to visit six locations in Darfur to meet with actors on the ground and review the humanitarian situation in those critical areas. But when the Sudanese Government said no to four of those locations, Mr. Egeland cut short his trip with regret, saying that he refused to ‘go and just sit in the offices.’”

This latest development comes less than a day after Sudan’s Government agreed with the UN, the African Union (AU) and representatives from Security Council countries and others to allow UN peacekeepers into Darfur alongside those of the AU mission already there trying to halt the violence.

Details of the agreement are still being worked out but the deal comes after Sudan’s leaders previously refused to allow a UN force into the region despite the killings. At present, the UN assists a 7,000-strong African Union mission (AMIS) in Darfur and is currently working on a $21 million support package.

At least 200,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the strife-torn region as a result of the conflict between Government forces, allied militias and rebels seeking greater autonomy, and more than 2 million others have been displaced.

The violence in Darfur has already spilled over into neighbouring countries, especially Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR), and a spokesman confirmed today that a UN assessment team will be travelling to both countries this weekend, made up of political, military, police and humanitarian experts on a two-week fact-finding mission.