ME and Ophelia

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ANNAN:
Darfur 'catastrophic'
  
June 15 (SA) Sao Paulo: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Monday warned the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region required immediate attention.

"This is a humanitarian emergency of catastrophic proportions that must be addressed, not tomorrow, but now," Annan said on the sidelines of the 11th UN Conference on Trade and Development.

"The world must insist that the Sudanese authorities neutralise and disarm the militia, who continue to terrorise the population. They must also allow humanitarian supplies."

Further reading:

June 15 Nairobi: Garang hints at final Sudan peace date. Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) chairman John Garang said the deal could be sealed in August or early September.
June 14 Arabic: Taha - Sudan's final peace agreement to be signed next August. Sudanese First Vice President Ali Othman Taha said that the peace deal between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) would be finally signed in August in Nairobi, Kenya. [Note: this does not include Darfur and eastern Sudan].
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UN IS FAILING TO PROTECT CIVILIANS
Aid for ten million people is sabotaged

June 15 Australia: "A senior United Nations (UN) official says more than 10 million civilians in war zones are being denied help because aid workers cannot reach them.

Jan Egeland, the overall coordinator for UN emergency relief, says aid workers are unable to provide basic food, shelter and medical care to civilians in 20 countries.

He has told a meeting of the UN Security Council that in some cases humanitarian workers are being killed to prevent them carrying out their work.

Mr Egeland says many of the worst affected areas are in Africa, but he also says Afghanistan, the northern Caucuses, the Palestinian territories and Latin America are problematic." -- BBC
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Further reading:
June 5 N Ireland: UN must to more to protect 10m people in global war zones.
June 15 Canada: UN Security Council failing to protect civilians, Canadian ambassador says.
June 15 Canada: UN failing victims of war, Canada says. Rock urges action.
June 15 Africa: UN Official urges greater efforts to protect civilians.
June 15 Swiss: Sudan hinders aid groups - UN says.
June 14 BBC: 'Massive abuses' in DR Congo. The UN has 10,800 troops in DR Congo although those sent to Bukavu did not stop the town falling to the rebels.
June UN: MONUC, UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
June 15-16 New Zealand: Sudanese government blocking food and medical help, UN says.
June 15 23:30 UK Indep: "Yesterday UN admitted that it is powerless to help. UN and aid agencies were unable to deliver 'the basic means of survival' to those that needed it most as a result of obstacles ranging from petty bureaucracy to callous obstructionism, to the outright menace of violence. 'For every politician, aid is something to be twisted to their advantage,' one aid worker said yesterday."
June 15 22:33 BBC: UN pleads for new Darfur funding. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has described the situation in Darfur as a "humanitarian emergency of catastrophic proportions".