UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is disappointed by Sudan's refusal to allow a U.N. human rights team to visit Darfur.
"I am very much disappointed by the decision of the Sudanese government," he told reporters at U.N. World Headquarters in New York Thursday. "I urge again that the Sudanese government fully cooperate with the unanimous decision of the Human Rights Council."
The team of human rights inspectors, led by Nobel Peace prize winner Jody Williams, had been waiting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for entry visas to Darfur. Instead, the team will travel to Chad where it will interview refugees living in camps, U.N. Spokeswoman Marie Okabe told reporters Thursday.
The secretary-general said he had received assurances from Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir at an African Union meeting in Addis Ababa in January that the human rights team would be allowed to visit Darfur.
"This continuing, deteriorating situation in Darfur is just unacceptable," Ban said. "If (Bashir) believes that there is no problem then he should be able to receive the fact-finding mission."
The secretary-general said he would like to see a hybrid U.N.-AU peacekeeping force in Darfur and that he will pursue that plan after receiving a report from Jan Eliasson, the U.N. special envoy to Sudan.
Eliasson is in Sudan with the AU special envoy Salim Ahmed Salim, where they hope to revitalize stalled peace negotiations.
Ban has said reducing violence in Darfur was one of his top priorities.
