SUDAN: US SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL CALLS FOR END OF MILITIA WHO ARE BLAMED FOR ETHNIC VIOLENCE AND REFUGEE PROBLEM IN THE DAFUR REGION
Record ID:
222807
SUDAN: US SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL CALLS FOR END OF MILITIA WHO ARE BLAMED FOR ETHNIC VIOLENCE AND REFUGEE PROBLEM IN THE DAFUR REGION
- Title: SUDAN: US SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL CALLS FOR END OF MILITIA WHO ARE BLAMED FOR ETHNIC VIOLENCE AND REFUGEE PROBLEM IN THE DAFUR REGION
- Date: 30th June 2004
- Summary: (W7) KHARTOUM, SUDAN (JUNE 30, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF U.S. SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN SHAKING HANDS WITH U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL 0.10 2. WIDE OF MEDIA WAITING 0.13 3. SLV COLIN POWELL WALKING INTO PRESS CONFERENCE 0.19 4. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) POWELL SAYING: "Security has to be dealt with and in the very candid conversation I had with the Sudanese leaders, especially the Foreign Minister, we came to an understanding that the Janjaweed must be controlled, they must be broken, they must be kept from perpetrating acts of violence against the civilian population." 0.41 5. CUTAWAY MEDIA 0.45 6. SCU SOUNDBITE) (English) POWELL SAYING: "It was important that we have a timeframe and specific actions to be taken within that timeframe and we came up with a number of specific items on a list and it's something that we will be able to monitor and we will see the speed with which humanitarian aid flows and the speed with which visas are issued and the speed with which humanitarian vehicles and other equipment deport and airports are released so that they can get to humanitarian organisations." 1.16 7. SLV U.S. TROOPS BY U.S. AIRCRAFT AT AIRPORT 1.20 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 15th July 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KHARTOUM, SUDAN
- Country: Sudan
- Reuters ID: LVAVS5B844C60XRCY3852FYPY4C
- Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, disappointed
at Sudan's initial response to his demands on Darfur,
called for an end to the militias blamed for the crisis in
the region.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, disappointed
at Sudan's initial response to his demands on Darfur,
called for an end to the militias blamed for the crisis in
the region on Wednesday (June 30) when he visited some of
the one million people displaced by the conflict.
"Security has to be dealt with and in the very candid
conversation I had with the Sudanese leaders especially the
Foreign Minister, we came to an understanding that the
Janjaweed must be controlled, they must be broken, they
must be kept from perpetrating acts of violence against the
civilian population," he said in Khartoum after his visit
to Darfur.
The Janjaweed are the Arab militias who have driven
non-Arab villagers off the land in a campaign of ethnic
cleansing which human rights groups say is verging on
attempted genocide.
U.N. officials and the rights groups say the Sudanese
army has worked with the Janjaweed but Khartoum says that
they are outlaws and that it is determined to disarm them.
Thousands of displaced Darfuris cheered, trilled,
clapped their hands and waved their walking sticks to
welcome Powell on his 20-minute visit to the camp, which
aid workers said was a show case and one of the best in the
region.
The camp is only a few miles outside El Fasher, the
capital of North Darfur state, in a region the size of
France.
Powell came to Sudan on Tuesday evening to press the
government to crack down on the Janjaweed and allow relief
groups unrestricted access to the region, which badly needs
to receive food and medicine before the rainy season
begins.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Khartoum
on a similar mission as Powell left for Darfur. The two
leaders have warned Sudan of U.N. Security Council action.
The two men later met in Khartoum.
But a senior U.S. State Department official said the
Sudanese government did not see the gravity of the
humanitarian crisis, which the United Nations calls the
worst in the world.
To add to the international pressure, the United States
plans to share the draft of a U.N. Security Council
resolution on Darfur with other members in New York on
Wednesday, he added.
For most of his flight to Darfur, Powell held talks
with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail on how
to deal with the Darfur crisis. In Khartoum on Tuesday
evening Powell met Sudanese President Omar Hassan
al-Bashir.
"It was important that we have a timeframe and specific
actions to be taken within that timeframe and we came up
with a number of specific items on a list and its something
that we will be able to monitor and we will see the speed
with which humanitarian aid flows and the speed with which
visas are issued and the speed with which humanitarian
vehicles and other equipment deport and airports are
released so that they can get to humanitarian
organisations," Powell said on Wednesday.
Bashir has promised to disarm the Janjaweed and give
the relief organisations access to the region.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None