Sudan must not disrupt the work of Irish aid agencies working in Darfur, The Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said today.
Ireland has sent millions of euro in assistance to the troubled region, where more than four million people have been displaced.
Mr Ahern, who begins a week-long visit to Sudan and Ethiopia today, will also call on authorities in Khartoum to allow a United Nations peacekeeping force to be deployed in Darfur.
The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the African Union have already made similar pleas to the sub-Saharan country.
Speaking before today's meeting, Mr Ahern said: "It is completely unacceptable that the valuable work of humanitarian organisations and the United Nations is being hindered. "Irish NGOs and other international humanitarian organisations, including the UN, are striving in difficult circumstances to help the very poorest of the poor on the ground in Darfur. "A stop has to be put to continuing hindrance of this humanitarian work."
Calling on all parties in Sudan to implement the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, Mr Ahern said the ongoing conflict in Darfur was contributing to hardship, suffering and loss of life.
The Minister is to travel to the Darfur region tomorrow. The conflict in southern Sudan and subsequent humanitarian tragedy, which erupted in 2003, is believed to have claimed two million lives and displaced four million people.
Mr Ahern will also travel to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, on Wednesday where he is expected to meet government and opposition leaders and see at first hand projects undertaken by Irish NGOs.
PA