British Prime Minister Tony Blair held talks in Sudan on Wednesday to pressure the country’s leaders into taking action over the humanitarian crisis in war-torn Darfur.
Blair, who underwent an operation to correct a heart flutter only five days earlier, was greeted at the presidential palace in Khartoum by Vice President Ali Osman Taha.
The pair were scheduled to spend 45 minutes in talks before Blair then went on to meet President Omar al-Beshir.
Blair’s decision to intervene personally in the crisis, becoming the first serving British premier to visit an independent Sudan, was kept secret until the last moment for security reasons.
The premier was set to take a tough line, telling Sudanese leaders plainly that the international community expected immediate changes in Darfur, the crisis-hit region of western Sudan.
Violence in Darfur has left an estimated 50 000 people dead and 1,4-million more displaced.
Before leaving London late on Tuesday at the start of an African mission, Blair’s official spokesperson said the prime minister’s uncompromising message would be that Sudan ”must comply” with United Nations resolutions on Darfur.
The Security Council has threatened sanctions against Sudan if it fails to take steps to disarm the Arab Janjaweed militias, held responsible for atrocities in Darfur.
With temperatures expected to hit around 40C in Khartoum, it could prove a gruelling trip for a man recuperating from a heart operation.
But Downing Street officials insist Blair was given a clean bill of health before he left.
The Darfur crisis erupted when Sudan called on the militias to help subdue a revolt that broke out in February 2003, as mainly black African tribes rose up against the central government which they said had ignored their region’s development.
Blair would tell Sudan’s leaders that they must negotiate a peace settlement with the rebels, and fully accept the role of the African Union in keeping peace, as well as assisting aid efforts, his spokesperson said.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which is spending around $200-million this year providing emergency relief in Darfur, said on Wednesday that the situation remained ”very, very precarious”.
While more aid was getting through and humanitarian agencies were receiving more cooperation from the authorities, Blair and other world leaders had to make sure Darfur was not forgotten, WFP spokesperson Greg Barrow told reporters here.
”The crisis is in the spotlight at the moment, and this helps us, but what we are saying is that this crisis is going to continue to the end of this year and then maybe for another,” he said.
With few crops planted in Darfur this year, millions would remain dependent on international aid, he explained.
Blair, who has pledged to make Africa one of his key policies during 2005, when Britain holds the rotating presidency of both the G8 rich nations’ club and the European Union, was due to leave later Wednesday for Ethiopia.
There he was to attend a two-day meeting in Addis Ababa of the Commission for Africa, his personal project designed to galvanise development efforts.
In Ethiopia, Blair would also deliver ”a major speech on Africa”, outlining his vision for the continent, his spokesperson said. – Sapa-AFP