U.N. slow to act in Sudan's Darfur crisis - Britain

June 10th, 2004.

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - The U.N. response to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan's Darfur region has been too little, too late, Britain's overseas aid minister said on Wednesday.

Aid officials have called the situation in Darfur the world's most pressing humanitarian emergency and Britain's Secretary of State for International Development Hilary Benn said the response so far had been inadequate.

"The number of humanitarian agencies on the ground is limited. We need more," Benn told the House of Commons.

"I have also been concerned about the adequacy and speed of the U.N.'s response, although this should now change," he added.

Benn has just returned from the western Sudanese region, where Arab militias, called Janjaweed, have driven out black Africans in what U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland has called a scorched earth campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Benn said the government was responsible for ending violence that caused the crisis. He saw burned villages on his visit.

"I made it very clear to the government of Sudan that they must bear the primary responsibility of bringing the fighting to an end, for reining in the Janjaweed and other militias, and for seeking a political solution," he said.

Refugees say the government supports the Janjaweed. Khartoum calls the Arab militias outlaws, but experts say it has done little to stop them.

Benn said the Sudanese government had promised to speed up customs clearance for incoming aid and approval requests for aid agencies seeking to operate. He said 30 tonnes of medical supplies were stuck in port for the past three months.

The United Nations estimates fighting in Darfur has affected more than two million people. More than half have been driven from their homes, with 130,000 fleeing into neighbouring Chad.

Benn, who announced at the weekend another 15 million pounds ($28
million) in funding on top of 19.5 million already given to U.N. agencies, said seasonal rains that had already started in Darfur would make matters worse by making roads impassable.

"We are in a race against time in Darfur, and the U.K. remains committed to doing all that it can to help those affected and to work for a just and lasting peace for its people," Benn said.

Sudan has been mired in civil war for the last 21 years.

The Khartoum government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement
(SPLM) signed a collection of protocols in May as a prelude to a comprehensive peace deal ending the war in the oil-rich south of the vast country, expected in August.

Benn said it was not clear to what extent the ceasefire in the south was being observed, and it was vital an African Union ceasefire-monitoring mission begin work as soon as possible.

The southern conflict has killed more than two million people, driven four million from homes inside Sudan and another 600,000 into neighbouring states, the United Nations says.