Sudan lifts restrictions from the moves of relief agencies, African forces in Darfur
Sudan, Politics, 7/7/2004

Sudan yesterday approved the deployment of 300 soldiers of the African federation forces to protect the observers of the cease fire in remote Darfur area where fighting resulted in displacing some one million persons.

A high ranking official at the African federation said that forces from Nigeria and Rwanda are ready to be deployed as soon as possible in the area. The Sudanese foreign minister Mustafa Othman Ismael said in Addis Ababa which hosts the African federation summit that as far as the desire of the African federation commission is to send forces to protect the African observers in Darfur, the Sudanese government will not prevent that.

Following a long conflict between Bedouins of Arab origin and farmers of African origin over the poor resources in the arid area situated to the west of Sudan, the rebels started to fight the government in 2003 accusing Khartoum of arming militias of Arab origin known as Jangaweid to maintain ethnic cleansing of the area. The Sudanese government denied these accusations. Ismael said that Sudan will alone dismantle the weapons of the Jangaweid.

Meantime, the Sudanese government, under international pressures to help the displaced in Darfur, approved to lift the restrictions on the move of workers in the relief agencies and the introduction of relief supplies. The minister of the Interior Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hussein issued two decrees concerning the work of the relief agencies. This was several days following the visits made by the US secretary of state Colin Powell and the UN secretary general Kofi Annan to Sudan. Facilitating the introduction of relief aid to Darfur was one of the main demands debated by Powell and Annan in addition to a greater efforts by the government to dismantle the weapons of Jangaweid militias.

Previous Stories:
  African federation prepares to send forces to Darfour   (7/6/2004)
  Rebels boycott the Sudanese negotiations in Addis Ababa   (7/5/2004)
  United States Expects Khartoum to Act on Darfur Immediately   (7/3/2004)

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