Sudan says aid workers no longer need pass to visit Darfur

KHARTOUM, May 20 (AFP) -- Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail said aid workers would no longer need a special pass to visit the strife-torn western region of Darfur.

From Monday, aid workers would be able to go to the region as long as they had standard Sudanese visas "obtainable directly from Sudanese diplomatic representations abroad," he said.

Aid workers have been complaining that they were being denied passes to enter Darfur, where more than a year of fighting has left thousands dead and uprooted a million people from their homes, according to UN figures.

Another 100,000 civilians have been driven to seek shelter across the border in impoverished Chad since February 2003.

The Khartoum government has been widely accused of conducting a policy of "ethnic cleansing" against the black, non-Arab people of Darfur and of targeting civilians in its response to a rebellion by local militias.

On May 7, the United Nations described Darfur as a region gripped by a "reign of terror", where pro-government forces are committing massive human rights violations that may amount to crimes against humanity.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres warned Thursday that the "threat of famine is looming" in Darfur.

"The whole population is teetering on the verge of mass starvation," a statement said.

Ismail's comments came days after the United States denounced the Sudanese government for issuing US relief workers with "useless" travel permits for the region that effectively prevented them from leaving Khartoum.