Annan calls for security in Sudan

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan, visiting the troubled west of Sudan Thursday, said the government must protect villagers from marauding Arab militias who have displaced 1 million people.

Annan arrived in Sudan on Wednesday and met US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Sudanese officials.

Powell said the United States wanted to see action within weeks on access for relief workers and disarming the Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, who human rights groups say are launching a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the Darfur region.

In the town of El Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, Annan met Governor Osman Kebir to press home international demands that the Sudanese Government stop a humanitarian crisis.

"The government responsibility is to ensure law and order so people can get on with their lives," Annan said. "We are all agreed security is extremely important. All measures must be taken to provide security so that the people will go back."

Annan was travelling to a camp for those displaced by Janjaweed looting and burning of African villages, about 17 kilometres south of El Fasher.

After years of conflict between nomadic Arab tribes and African farmers, two rebel groups revolted last year, accusing Khartoum of arming the Janjaweed, a charge the government denies. The UN says the fighting has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The United States has circulated a draft resolution imposing an arms embargo and travel ban on the Janjaweed, but it does not take action against the Sudanese Government itself.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail assured Powell that Sudan was working to achieve security in Darfur and would speed up negotiations with the rebels.

The two sides signed a humanitarian ceasefire on April 8, but both sides have since accused each other of violations.

An aid organization working in Darfur said Annan's visit was decisive for Darfur, where the imminent rainy season could soon make it impossible to reach vast areas.

"As far as we're concerned, Annan's trip is crunch time, last chance saloon for decisive international action on Darfur," a representative of the group, who declined to be named, said.

"An immediate UN resolution on Darfur is vital and the best hope of stopping the killings, attacks and displacement of civilians."

UN Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Jan Egeland told reporters in Darfur yesterday that the UN was slow to act in Darfur, where aid workers say about 350,000 people could die this year of disease or malnutrition.