Secretary-General, UN Agency heads express deep concern

Over crisis in darfur region of sudan

The following statement was issued by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Baden, Austria, 3 April:

The Secretary-General and the heads of all United Nations agencies, funds and programmes express their deepest concern over the serious human rights violations and humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of the Sudan, which is having a devastating impact on the human security of thousands of civilians.

They call on those responsible for perpetrating these violations to put an immediate end to their activities.  They further call on all parties to allow unimpeded humanitarian access to the affected population.  In this regard, they welcome the offer made by the Government of the Sudan to the Secretary-General to send a United Nations mission to assess the situation in Darfur.

They welcome the peace initiative undertaken by the Government of Chad and call on all concerned to cooperate fully in this important undertaking and enter into a humanitarian ceasefire as an immediate first step.

The Secretary-General and his colleagues are meeting in Austria for the twice yearly meeting of the United Nations organizations’ Chief Executives.

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