UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has told the Sudanese government he wants to see progress within the next two days in resolving a bitter conflict in the Darfur region.
As Mr Annan joined US Secretary of State Colin Powell on an unusually high-powered visit to Sudan, the United States called on the United Nations to impose an arms embargo and travel ban on Arab militias blamed for waves of attacks on African villagers in Darfur, which humanitarian workers liken to ethnic cleansing.
Mr Annan has raised the possibility of sending in international troops if Sudan's government cannot safeguard its people in the vast and desolate western region.
"I think we all have a responsibility to act urgently to deal with the situation in Darfur," he told Sudanese cabinet ministers yesterday at the start of a meeting that also included senior UN officials. "We have worked together for a long time, and I hope this time we are going to take such measures that we don't have people in camps for years to come. I think we should be able to make some real progress in the next 24 to 48 hours."
Mr Powell said he had given Sudanese leaders a timetable to implement its commitments to disarm the militias, particularly the Janjaweed; lift restrictions on relief workers; and seek a resolution to the crisis. Although he did not specify any deadlines, he said: "We are talking within days and weeks."
The 16-month-old conflict has killed up to 30,000 people, driven more than a million people from their homes and left more than two million in desperate need of aid.
Human rights groups have accused the Sudanese government of backing militias drawn from Arab herders in a campaign to forcibly remove African farming communities from the region, where they have coexisted and in some cases intermarried for centuries.
Tomorrow, Mr Annan visits Sudanese refugee camps in neighbouring Chad before returning to Khartoum for a meeting with Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir.
AP