U.N. Humanitarian Chief Pleads with Sudan to Allow Aid to Darfur

Egeland says yesterday's incident, right after his visit to the Kalma camp where a Sudanese interpreter working for the African Union was killed by a mob, is proof that simmering tensions have gone unmanaged since the Norwegian NGO was ordered out by the government in Khartoum.

At a news conference today, a reporter with Sudan's state news agency challenged him, saying that government sources were blaming Egeland for sparking the violence by telling refugees of impending cuts in U.N. food rations.

JAN EGELAND: I am right, and they are wrong, as simple as that. What I said in the camp to the people was, yes, what you have heard, that the food rations will be cut, is true, that it will happen for several months. They did not like to hear this confirmation, but it did not provoke any anger.

MARGARET WARNER: Mr. Egeland is not the U.N. official chiefly responsible for implementing the peace agreement, but the answers he gets here in Khartoum on the humanitarian issues that are his concern can be read as indicators of the Sudan government's willingness to take the other steps needed to make the peace deal work.

The first signs of that can be seen near the town of Gereida in south Darfur. The refugee camp here now houses 120,000 residents. It has tripled in size in just four months.

There are no structures to shelter new arrivals, no tents, no plastic sheeting; only the trees offer protection from temperatures that can reach 115 degrees by early afternoon.

Asha Ibrahim Ali has been here for two weeks now, after being driven from her village under what she says was a coordinated assault by the Sudanese military and the government-backed Janjaweed militia.

ASHA IBRAHIM ALI, Darfur Refugee (through translator): The military came and attacked first. After that, the Janjaweed came. They killed our children; they looted the house; they even took all our clothes. They did not leave anything for us.

MARGARET WARNER: With only a small African Union force deployed in Gereida, she and other refugees remain deeply worried about their personal security.

The refugees do have access to water. Aid workers have dug some wells, and work has begun on one project that should vastly increase the supply.

But the machines they're using to dig this bore hole need fuel, and the local governor, appointed by Khartoum, won't allow fuel trucks, arguing they're susceptible to being hijacked by rebel groups.

During his visits to Darfur, Egeland protested the fact that aid workers are being physically intimidated by rebel and government forces alike and hit with onerous new visa, travel and work permit restrictions by the Khartoum government. Aid workers themselves won't voice those complaints publicly for fear that Khartoum will retaliate by kicking them out entirely.

LEONARD TEDD, OXFAM: OXFAM and ICRC are the only agencies with significant bases here, and that's largely because of logistical and security concerns.

MARGARET WARNER: And who is to blame for that?

LEONARD TEDD: I can't answer.