Holbrooke denounces situation in Sudan

AL-FASHER, Sudan – The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations visited a displaced persons camp in the troubled Darfur region on Tuesday and sharply criticized Sudan, the United Nations, the U.S. administration and the international community for doing too little to stem the humanitarian crisis there.

Richard Holbrooke, traveling with U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine, a New Jersey Democrat, visited the Krinding camp near El Geneina, capital of West Darfur state.

“What we have seen is very moving, very disturbing, and there is an enormous amount that needs to be done still in the humanitarian area and beyond that,” Holbrooke told reporters after the visit.

“I do not think that anyone involved, the Sudanese government, the United Nations, the international community, my own country, is yet doing enough,” he said. “Everyone needs to do more. The core of this is a political problem, and the humanitarian crisis will go on as long as the political issue is not resolved.”

The United Nations views Darfur as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The Sudanese government is under intense international pressure to restore calm across the swath of western Sudan where an 18-month-old insurgency has killed more than 30,000 people and driven more than 1 million from their homes.

A 30-day deadline set by the United Nations for the Sudanese government to rein in Arab militiamen accused of violence against black African farmers, or face penalties, expired Monday.

The United Nations is now considering whether to impose sanctions on Sudan. The U.N. special envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, was to brief the Security Council on the Darfur situation Thursday.

After touring the Krinding camp, Corzine and Holbrooke met African Union cease-fire commission officials in Al-Fasher, capital of North Darfur state.

Corzine told the Associated Press after the meeting there is still much work to be done.

“Maybe 30 days was an unrealistic timetable,” he said of the U.N. deadline.

The visit by the U.S. dignitaries coincided with the third day of a fruitless search-and-rescue operation for eight missing Sudanese aid workers.

A U.N. security team searched on the ground and by helicopter Tuesday but turned up no trace of the workers – three from the U.N. World Food Program and five from the Sudanese Red Crescent.

The international aid agencies said they lost radio contact Saturday with the workers, who were registering displaced villagers in rebel territory.