Time is running out for millions in Sudan conflict, warns UN

SATELLITE photos of the Darfur region of western Sudan show more than 300 villages completely destroyed, confirming the many reports of systematic killings by Arab militias.

The UN has warned time is running out for the two million Sudanese in desperate need of aid in Darfur.

Andrew Natsios, administrator of the UN's Agency for International Development, said his agency's estimate that 350,000 could die of disease and malnutrition over the next nine months "is conservative".

Thousands of people have been killed and more than one million forced to flee their homes. International rights groups say the government has backed the Arab fighters in an ethnic cleansing campaign against the African villagers.

Mr Natsios put the blame for the crisis squarely on the Sudanese government, saying US and UN reports from the country show clearly the Sudanese military is directly connected to Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, that are fighting in Darfur.

"They arm them, they use them, and now they have to stop them," Mr Natsios said after meeting with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Mr Annan is planning to visit Sudan soon and assess the situation in Darfur.

Last week, Mr Annan said the UN had asked the Sudanese government to take steps to contain the Janjaweed. The government denies any complicity in the militia attacks against the black African population, blaming the trouble in Darfur on rebels and criminal gangs, but Mr Annan said "from all accounts they can do something about the Janjaweed".

Mr Natsios said despite frequent government promises, virtually nothing had changed. "They've got to stop stonewalling the relief effort," Mr Natsios. He said the government needed to enforce the agreement it signed in neighbouring Chad on April 8 to allow humanitarian agencies into the area.

Fighting erupted in February 2003 when African tribes in Darfur rebelled against what they regarded as unjust treatment by the Sudanese government in their struggle over land and resources.

Mr Natsios said NASA photographs of 576 villages showed 300 were completely destroyed and 76 substantially destroyed.