'Desperate' refugee crisis in Sudan

The situation in Sudan is “desperately serious”, International Development Secretary Hilary Benn said today.

The humanitarian crisis in Darfur, where the Janjaweed militia have driven one million people from their homes, is being called the world’s worst.

Mr Benn said: “We need to put all our effort internationally into making sure that aid supplies get to the people who need them – both along the border with Chad, where a lot of refugees have gone, but also to the very large number of people who have been internally displaced.

“They have had to flee their homes within Darfur. One of the problems is we don’t currently have a full picture of exactly what is going on.”

Mr Benn was speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme ahead of a visit to Sudan.

Ministers had raised the issue of Sudanese government involvement with the militias and met with repeated denials, he said.

“What really matters is that people are still suffering,” Mr Benn told Today.

“The UN Commissioner for Human Rights has said there have been huge human rights violations – there has been mass rape, killing, the burning of villages.

“The important thing is to get the monitors in because that is the best way that we can make sure the ceasefire holds, get the aid to the people in need and then, in time, try to find a resolution to this problem so that people can go back home.”