U.N. Security Council hears Darfur appeals
(Changes dateline to Zamzam Camp, adds details of camp visit, possible cut in UN rations)
By Louis Charbonneau
ZAMZAM CAMP, Sudan, June 5 (Reuters) - Growing insecurity in Darfur could force cuts to food rations for civilians caught in one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, U.N. staff told visiting envoys from the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.
The visit to Sudan's Darfur region coincides with the release of a report to the council by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, who has enraged Khartoum by making clear he wants to pursue top officials for war crimes in Darfur.
On the fifth day of a 10-day tour of African hotspots, the 15-nation council visited North Darfur state, where a U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) is based, and met elders in the Zamzam camp for displaced people.
Staff from the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) told the delegates they might have to cut rations for the second time in two months because of worsening insecurity. The WFP halved deliveries of emergency food from May.
"They may have to cut by half yet again," the U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Alejandro Wolff, said in an address to the local governor.
Fatima, a 35-year-old mother of eight children who has been at Zamzam for four years, held up a sign calling for an end to the war. She complained that she was not getting enough food for her family. Some people in the camp begged reporters for food.
Experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been forced from their homes in five years of ethnic and political conflict in Darfur. Khartoum says only 10,000 people have been killed.
Sudan has been under pressure to allow a quicker deployment of UNAMID, which is to reach 26,000 troops and police at full strength. There are still only around 9,000 peacekeepers on the ground in Darfur, a region roughly the size of France.
BETTER ATMOSPHERE
Khartoum confirmed on Wednesday that Thai and Nepalese battalions could deploy in Darfur once Egyptian and Ethiopian troops had deployed.
Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers told reporters there had been "an improvement in the atmosphere for cooperation" between Sudan and the joint U.N./African Union mission, but added the council gave Sudanese officials a list of a dozen improvements needed in Darfur, such as speeding up deployment of peacekeepers and improving access for aid workers.
But there is little prospect for peace negotiations, particularly since an attack by one Darfuri rebel faction on Khartoum last month.
Sudan on Wednesday accused International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of wrecking peace efforts in Darfur by trying to pursue officials accused of war crimes in Darfur.
The prosecutor is due to deliver a report to the Security Council on Thursday. He said last week he would open a case against senior members of the government because Khartoum has failed to arrest a minister he indicted over crimes in Darfur.
The Hague based court issued arrest warrants for two Sudanese suspects in April last year, but Khartoum has refused to hand them over. (Editing by Andrew Heavens and Matthew Tostevin)
By Louis Charbonneau
ZAMZAM CAMP, Sudan, June 5 (Reuters) - Growing insecurity in Darfur could force cuts to food rations for civilians caught in one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, U.N. staff told visiting envoys from the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.
The visit to Sudan's Darfur region coincides with the release of a report to the council by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, who has enraged Khartoum by making clear he wants to pursue top officials for war crimes in Darfur.
On the fifth day of a 10-day tour of African hotspots, the 15-nation council visited North Darfur state, where a U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) is based, and met elders in the Zamzam camp for displaced people.
Staff from the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) told the delegates they might have to cut rations for the second time in two months because of worsening insecurity. The WFP halved deliveries of emergency food from May.
"They may have to cut by half yet again," the U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Alejandro Wolff, said in an address to the local governor.
Fatima, a 35-year-old mother of eight children who has been at Zamzam for four years, held up a sign calling for an end to the war. She complained that she was not getting enough food for her family. Some people in the camp begged reporters for food.
Experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been forced from their homes in five years of ethnic and political conflict in Darfur. Khartoum says only 10,000 people have been killed.
Sudan has been under pressure to allow a quicker deployment of UNAMID, which is to reach 26,000 troops and police at full strength. There are still only around 9,000 peacekeepers on the ground in Darfur, a region roughly the size of France.
BETTER ATMOSPHERE
Khartoum confirmed on Wednesday that Thai and Nepalese battalions could deploy in Darfur once Egyptian and Ethiopian troops had deployed.
Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers told reporters there had been "an improvement in the atmosphere for cooperation" between Sudan and the joint U.N./African Union mission, but added the council gave Sudanese officials a list of a dozen improvements needed in Darfur, such as speeding up deployment of peacekeepers and improving access for aid workers.
But there is little prospect for peace negotiations, particularly since an attack by one Darfuri rebel faction on Khartoum last month.
Sudan on Wednesday accused International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of wrecking peace efforts in Darfur by trying to pursue officials accused of war crimes in Darfur.
The prosecutor is due to deliver a report to the Security Council on Thursday. He said last week he would open a case against senior members of the government because Khartoum has failed to arrest a minister he indicted over crimes in Darfur.
The Hague based court issued arrest warrants for two Sudanese suspects in April last year, but Khartoum has refused to hand them over. (Editing by Andrew Heavens and Matthew Tostevin)
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