Powell visits refugee camp, demands action by Sudan

ABU SHOUK, Sudan – Surrounded by thousands of chanting victims of violence, Secretary of State Colin Powell strode through a sprawling refugee camp in western Sudan on Wednesday to put pressure on the Sudanese government to ease a humanitarian crisis that has left more than 1 million people homeless.

Powell, accompanied by Sudan’s foreign minister, demanded the government bring under control the marauding Arab militias that have attacked black African villages and lift restrictions hindering the delivery of food and medicine to more than 100 camps in Darfur, a region larger than France.

“Camps are good for temporary purposes, but that cannot be the answer,” Powell said after a 15-minute walking tour. “We are anxious to see the end of militarism. We are anxious to see the Janjaweed (militias) brought under control and disbanded so people can leave camps in safety and go back to their homes.”

Later, in a joint news conference with Powell, Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail promised a crackdown on the militias and said the government would take steps to improve the flow of humanitarian aid.

Aid officials said this camp of 40,000 people is one of the best maintained in the region, but even here malnutrition is rampant among the children. Irfan Sulejmann, an International Red Cross official, said he helped set up the camp in April after a measles outbreak at another camp that one U.S. official said killed hundreds of children.