News Article by AFP posted on August 23, 2000 at 13:34:41: EST (-5 GMT)
UN agrees to Sudanese representatives at relief flight bases
KHARTOUM, Aug 23 (AFP) - The United Nations accepted a
proposal
Wednesday to allow Sudanese representatives to monitor
relief
flights entering the country, which Khartoum says have been used
to
supply arms to southern rebels.
The Sudanese proposal to send observers to the relief base at
Lokichokio
in northern Kenya is subject to approval by officials in
Nairobi, said a
joint statement by Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa
Ismail and UN envoy Tom
Eric Vraalsen.
"The special envoy stated that the United Nations had no
objection to this
proposal and encouraged the government to raise
the matter directly with the
government of Kenya," the statement
said.
But the UN envoy, citing cost-effectiveness, did not agree to a
separate
Sudanese demand that all relief flights be based in Sudan.
The Khartoum government has alleged that operations in the
UN-sponsored
relief program Operation Lifeline-Sudan have been used
to funnel supplies to
the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army
(SPLA).
Vraalsen ended a three-day trip to Sudan on Wednesday, when he
left for
Nairobi to talk with SPLA officials.
The envoy and Ismail also agreed that the United Nations would
continue to
assess humanitarian operations and explore other means,
"outside OLS, to
enhance the capacity of the government to play a
more effective role in
humanitarian and rehabilitation activities,"
the statement said.
The statement added that the United Nations would assess the
situation in
the southern Unity State, where tens of thousands of
people have been
displaced.