Sudan, U.N. Sign Deal on Darfur

The government signed an agreement with the U.N. migration agency Saturday to ensure that more than 1 million people displaced by violence in Darfur can voluntarily return home -- but cannot be forced to do so.

The accord, signed in the capital, is part of efforts by Sudanese authorities to show the U.N. Security Council that Khartoum is moving to end what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. An estimated 30,000 people have been killed in the western region and scores of villages destroyed.

“We have put together something that can work,” said Brunson McKinley, director-general of the U.N. International Organization for Migration. He added, however, that the return of the displaced people was “not going to be easy or quick.”

The U.N. says the 18-month conflict has driven about 1.4 million people from their homes, many of whom are in refugee camps in Darfur. About 180,000 have fled to neighboring Chad.

Under Saturday’s agreement, Sudanese authorities agreed to accept the U.N. agency’s determination on whether people were ready to return home and to ensure the security of U.N. staff and returnees.

The guarantees were aimed at easing fears that security forces would force people to return home before it was safe.