Sudan crisis deadline expires

“Of course, we are concerned,” Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman said in Khartoum, the capital. “We wish ... the relationship with the Security Council will not be the way of confrontation. We hope it will be in the form of co-operation.”

His remarks came as a US State Department official assessed conditions for thousands of displaced people in Darfur, and a contingent of 155 Nigerian soldiers arrived, swelling the ranks of an African Union mission monitoring a shaky cease-fire between government troops and rebels.

Three UN teams report today to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on whether the government is doing all it can to disarm the Arab militia.

Known as Janjaweed, the militiamen are blamed for killing and raping black African villagers and for driving more than 1 million people from their homes, sparking what the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The Security Council will meet Thursday and consider whether to take action against Khartoum. The US has advocated sanctions against the government.

“We hope the Security Council will come out with a reasonable decision that will help us to continue working together,” Ismail said.

Constance Berry Newman, US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, touched down at Al-Fasher airport in a UN World Food Program twin-engine plane.

She was briefed by aid agencies and UN officials before touring Abu Shouk camp, home to some 43,000 villagers driven from their homes in 18 months of fighting between government troops and rebels.

Ismail refused to meet with Newman in Khartoum, and the official Sudanese news agency quoted him as saying it was in protest of the State Department’s failure to help Sudan keep its embassy open in Washington.

Sudan announced Wednesday that the embassy had closed because it was unable to find a bank that would handle its financial matters.

Children clamoured around Newman as she visited a classroom in the camp, where students sat in the shade on mats to learn about basic sanitation and the importance of clean drinking water.

She later watched as aid workers inoculated babies against measles.

Newman declined to speak with journalists during the visit.

At Abu Shouk camp, on the outskirts of Al-Fasher, residents have begun to build mud walls around their straw and tarpaulin shelters, and simple fences from scrub and thorn tree branches, replicating conditions in their villages.

Some have planted vegetables and corn outside their huts, and a small market thrives on the edge of the desert settlement.

At Zam Zam camp, 12 miles away, local butchers sell freshly slaughtered goats. Some displaced still have enough cash from last year’s harvest of crops, such as tobacco and sorghum, to buy better food than the wheat, oil and salt rations provided monthly by the aid agencies.

Some have their own donkeys and some children wear clean clothes and ride bicycles. The less fortunate wear tattered and dirty smocks.

Although conditions in the camp are often no worse than in their own villages, many of the displaced are eager to return home. Unable to plant crops, they know they will rely on food aid until the fall harvest next year.

“The land in Darfur is sacred,” said Abu Shouk camp manager Abdel Aziz el-Fateh. “People love their land and worship their land, and consider this camp a grave.”

Many say they are afraid to return home, fearing further attacks.

“We are happy and living here securely but we still need more – and we need them to give us more peace,” said Kalthoum Mohammed Haroun.

More than 30,000 people have been killed since two rebel factions took up arms against the government in February 2003 – escalating years of low-level conflict between African farmers and Arab herders who competed for water and land.

The rebels, drawn from African tribes, rose up against the Arab-dominated government, claiming discrimination and political marginalisation.

Human rights groups, the US Congress and UN officials accuse the government of trying to crush the rebellion by backing the Janjaweed – allegations Khartoum has repeatedly denied.

Dennis McNamara, a senior official in the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Assistance, told reporters yesterday in Nairobi, Kenya, that attacks on civilians have continued in Darfur and too little has been done to stem the humanitarian crisis.

Women and girls are still being raped by militiamen as they leave camps to collect firewood, McNamara said.

Efforts to forge peace between rebels and the government at talks in Abuja, Nigeria, have proved fruitless, with each side accusing the other of violating the April 8 cease-fire.

On Monday, top government negotiator Majzoub al-Khalifa Ahmad said there has been progress.

“All the aspects of the Darfur issue – the humanitarian issue and the security issue, and the accessibility to the different NGOs – are progressing satisfactorily, and so I’m expecting a positive decision from the UN”

His words were countered by Ahmed Tugod Lissan, head of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement delegation.

“So far, nothing has been done and we will say this clearly: There has been no improvement in the situation. Therefore, the Sudanese government will see the consequences of not complying with their commitments,” Lissan said.

Twenty miles from Al-Fasher, the small mud and straw hut village of Um Hashab lies in ruins after fighting between government forces and rebels. Villagers said that they were attacked by Sudanese troops who dropped bombs from helicopters.

The African Union, which has a team of 80 cease-fire observers, said it was investigating the claims.

Ahmad, the government negotiator in Abuja, said the government was enforcing the cease-fire and that until more information of alleged attacks was obtained, “I don’t think we can be accused of anything.”