US warns Sudan over displacement

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has criticised the Sudanese government, saying it fails to realise the gravity of a humanitarian crisis threatening one million people in Darfur.

Mr Powell, on the second day of a visit to Sudan, arrived in Darfur yesterday for a first-hand look at some of the million people displaced by marauding Arab militias in what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

He has threatened unspecified UN Security Council action if Khartoum does not crack down on the militias, known as the Janjaweed, and streamline relief work in the region.