KHARTOUM, Sudan, March 26 (UPI) -- The U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator said talks with Sudanese government officials were "useful" and conducted in a "positive spirit."
"The government acknowledges there are problems that need to be fixed and has promised to take the concerns of the humanitarian community seriously," U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said Monday in Khartoum.
"I feel there is a genuine commitment to work with the U.N. agencies and non-governmental organizations to address the concerns related to humanitarian access and space," he said.
During his five-day mission, Holmes was initially denied entry at a camp for internally displaced person in the war-torn region of Darfur. He later visited a different camp with a population of 45,000.
Speaking to reporters in Khartoum, Holmes said massive humanitarian aid would be hard to continue as more newly displaced persons continue to flow into camps. Holmes said his first planned visit to a refugee camp was canceled due to communications problem and was not deliberate.
"But if this can happen to a senior U.N. official, you can imagine the effect on an ordinary humanitarian worker," he said. "We need to see a return to the commitments made in the moratorium and actual implementation on the ground."
The relief coordinator will soon travel to eastern Chad, where he plans to visit Sudanese refugee camps and meet with various government, humanitarian and U.N. representatives.
More than 200,000 people have been killed, and 2 million were forced to leave their homes since 2003 in Darfur, a region of Sudan. A peace deal signed last year failed to end the fighting between government forces, allied Janjaweed militias and rebel groups. Refugees have started fleeing to neighboring countries, such as Chad and the Central African Republic.
