Aid agencies and Western media have "misrepresented" the Darfur crisis: OIC

Thursday July 1st, 2004.

UNITED NATIONS, June 30, 2004 (KUNA) -- A delegation from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) that visited Darfur, Sudan, earlier this month said that it is "totally convinced" that the international agencies and Western media have "misrepresented" the Darfur crisis and that Khartoum did its utmost to contain it.

"The problem is by no means more than a tribal conflict over basic resources, namely water and pasture," the OIC three-man delegation that visited Darfur from 5-8 June said in a report, a copy of which was sent to the UN Secretariat late Tuesday.

"The representation that holds the Sudanese authority responsible for mishandling the victims in the Region, describing the situation as the worst humanitarian crisis is far from the reality," the report obtained by KUNA said.

The report criticized the international organizations and the Western Media for not supporting the "positive efforts" by the Sudanese Government to contain the crisis.

"Such support could have enabled the Sudanese authorities to overcome the problem and put it in the correct perspective," the report stated.

It noted that Khartoum has prepared a long-term sustainable development plan in the region by drilling wells and establishing housing units suitable for roaming tribes which would assist in their settlement so that they would no longer have any need to wander around and so that frictions would not consequently erupt.