Military

DATE=3/4/05

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=UN / SUDAN (L-O)

NUMBER=2-323023

BYLINE=BARBARA SCHOETZAU

DATELINE=NEW YORK

INTERNET=

VOICED AT:

Headline: UN Secretary General to Address Security Council on Urgency of Situation in Darfur

INTRO: U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has scheduled a meeting with the Security Council Monday to discuss the situation in Sudan, particularly Darfur. From New York, correspondent Barbara Schoetzau has the story.

TEXT: In the past, Mr. Annan has called the situation for hundreds of thousands of displaced persons in Dafur, in his words, a "little short of hell on earth" and he has urged the international community to take swift action. The Security Council is divided on issues such as sanctions on Sudan, which the United States is pushing, and action has been slow. A small force of African troops, about 17 hundred, are mandated only to monitor a frequently violated ceasefire between government-backed Janjaweed militia and rebel fighters.

But U.N. spokesperson Fred Eckhard says Mr. Annan believes the situation on the ground in Darfur urgently needs attention.

/// ECKHARD ACT ///

"I think all would agree that not enough is being done to bring the security situation in Sudan under control. I think the council members share that assessment with the secretary general. We all know the kinds of difficult issues that the council is grappling with as they debate approving the secretary general's proposal for a peacekeeping mission and I think he wants to discuss with them what practical options are available to them to act more decisively to deal with the continuing killing, rape that is going on in Sudan, particularly in Darfur."

/// END ACT ///

U.N. Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland is currently in southern Sudan meeting with aid workers, U.N. staff and members of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, which recently signed a peace accord with Khartoum. The United Nations says hundreds of thousands of displaced persons in the south are ready to return to their communities, but few of the necessary resources to support their return are in place. Mr. Egeland will also visit Darfur. (Signed)

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