Kassab, Sudan – Sudanese troops barred the U.N. humanitarian chief on Saturday from a Darfur refugee camp whose residents have been raped and attacked by gunmen suspected of belonging to pro-government militias.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon failed, meanwhile, to persuade Egypt to push Sudan’s leader to accept a U.N. peacekeeping mission in the region.
The convoy carrying humanitarian chief John Holmes was halted at a checkpoint about a mile outside the Kassab refugee camp, and he was told he lacked the proper papers for a visit. He said he had obtained all the necessary clearances from the government in Khartoum.
Other U.N. officials working in Darfur said aid workers and U.N. staff were regularly blocked from doing their work at army checkpoints.
Sudanese authorities in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, apologized for the Holmes incident, saying it was an individual mistake by Sudanese military intelligence personnel manning the checkpoint at Kassab.
