UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (UPI) -- A delegation from the U.N. Security Council has met with top Sudanese officials in the capital, Khartoum.
They were joined by the senior U.N. envoy in the capital city and representatives of non-governmental organizations as part of a bid to explore how best to help the people of Africa's largest country.
The 15 council member delegation, led by British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, met Tuesday with President Omar al-Bashir and other senior government leaders, as well as members of parliament, a U.N. spokesman said.
The council mission began its first day with a briefing in Khartoum by Jan Pronk, the secretary-general's special representative, and his deputies at the U.N. Mission in Sudan, spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at U.N. World Headquarters in New York. The council members also met with a group of NGOs and are expected to meet with opposition party leaders.
In Khartoum, Jones Parry said the mission was there to listen to the government and all the parties on how the United Nations, and specifically the Security Council, can support the African Union and assist the country's people.
The AU has a 7,000-strong mission in Sudan which initially will be responsible for helping to implement a peace accord signed by the government and the main Darfur rebels.
Two smaller rebel groups have so far refused to sign the accord, and the government has not yet agreed to a U.N. peacekeeping operation for Darfur, where fighting among the government, pro-government militias and rebels has led to the deaths of more than 200,000 people and displaced some 2 million others amid charges of the massacre of civilians, rape and other atrocities.
