Sudan Officials Offer Assurances Before U.N. Visit

Sudan’s foreign minister said Sunday that his government had cooperated fully with international demands to improve the situation in Darfur, just days before U.N. officials planned to examine whether the country had made adequate progress in disarming marauding Arab militias.

The minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, also dismissed U.N. reports that 30,000 refugees wanted to flee the western region of Darfur into Chad because of poor security.

With reports circulating that most U.N. Security Council members preferred to avoid such measures as sanctions, the foreign minister said he was confident the United Nations would find this week that his government had done all it could.

“We are all keen to apply the U.N. plan because the secretary-general has approved it and it will be reassessed.... I am sure the Security Council will announce that there is total cooperation from the Sudanese government to achieve peace,” Ismail said Sunday, adding that Darfur had been calm in the last month.

At a news conference Sunday in Khartoum, the capital, Ismail and another official provided details about progress on safe areas for displaced people and deployment of police around those areas. But they offered no details about any program to disarm the Arab militias, which U.N. officials see as the key to improving security in Darfur.

On Thursday, the Joint Implementation Mission, involving U.N. and Sudanese government officials, plans to travel to Darfur for a three-day visit to report on any progress made by Sudan to disarm the militias and improve security. According to the latest U.N. situation report, more than 1.2 million people have been displaced by the conflict, 48% of whom are not getting food relief.

Sudan has until a week from today to show the Security Council that it is serious about disarming Arab militias responsible for atrocities in Darfur, or it could face unspecified measures.

Ismail said he did not think that the worst-case scenario -- which he put as international military intervention -- would occur. There has been no international threat of military intervention, only of unspecified measures if Sudan fails to comply, suggesting the possibility of sanctions.

The United Nations has called the situation in Darfur the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, but Sudanese officials have repeatedly downplayed the atrocities, even as Arab militias have killed, raped, set people on fire, burned villages, stolen stock and hunted residents from their land -- attacks the U.S. Congress has labeled genocide.

The Sudanese government has denied reports by Human Rights Watch and humanitarian organizations that it used Arab militias as a proxy force to subdue a rebellion in Darfur by two groups early last year. But the government recently acknowledged to U.N. officials that it controlled some of the militias.

The two rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudanese Liberation Army, are from the black tribal pastoral populations that have long been in conflict with Arab herdsmen over land. They rebelled in early 2003, complaining of discrimination against their people by the government.

The Arab militias, known as janjaweed, retaliated with a terror campaign against villagers.

Human rights groups have reported countless witness accounts of government soldiers’ involvement in the attacks, including bombings and strikes by helicopter gunships.

U.N. officials have reported in recent days that although militia attacks have decreased, people have still been fleeing their homes.

The most recent U.N. situation report from Darfur, dated Aug. 19, found that West Darfur was relatively calm in most areas and that North Darfur had no security problems. It said that in South Darfur, government soldiers had reportedly harassed displaced people in Kalma refugee camp, near the town of Nyala, and looted the camp.

African Union monitors were investigating reports of janjaweed activity in the area of Nertiti, in the west, the report said.

Ismail, the foreign minister, said the government had arrested some criminals from the rebel forces near Fasher in northern Darfur who were guilty of rape, adding that the men would be displayed to the international media.

Ismail and another Sudanese official, Ahmed Haroun, state minister for internal affairs, strongly attacked reports that 30,000 Darfur residents near the village of Misterei were trying to flee to Chad. They said regional officials and U.N. refugee representatives were in Misterei to investigate.

Haroun said the number involved was less than 10,000; Ismail said the situation in Misterei was stable.

Haroun said 2,246 police officers had been sent to provide security around 12 designated safe areas, and 100 armored vehicles would man security checkpoints.

The U.N. report said 6,000 displaced people at Yara near Nyala had reported that their situation was secure because of an increased police presence.

Reuters reported that 5,000 people had returned to Sani Delaiba in southern Darfur -- designated as one of the safe areas -- with residents reporting no recent attacks because of the presence of 150 police.

Meanwhile Sunday, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo proposed giving African Union troops the task of disarming the Darfur rebels while the government disarms the janjaweed, Reuters said. The proposal came on the eve of talks in Nigeria between Sudan’s government and the rebels.

Rwanda has sent 155 troops to protect African Union representatives monitoring a cease-fire between the two sides, the news agency said.

Nigeria will send 150 this week but is considering dispatching up to 1,500.