NEW YORK, 6 May 2009 – The United Nations humanitarian chief kicked off a five-day trip to Sudan today to assess relief programmes in the south of the vast African country and its war-torn Darfur region.
Aid agencies are particularly concerned about the situation in the western Sudanese region of Darfur since the Government expelled 13 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and revoked the permits of three local groups after the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant in early March for President Omar Al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes will review living conditions for the local populations in areas affected by the NGO expulsions in Darfur, where an estimated 300,000 people have been killed and another 2.7 million have been forced from their homes since 2003.
Before arriving in Darfur, Mr. Holmes, who is also the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, is slated to travel to Southern Sudan on Friday, where he will meet UN humanitarian officials and representatives from the Government of Southern Sudan.
Kilde: www.un.org/news
