Sudan aid bridge suspended
2004-09-14 20:30
Paris - A costly air bridge that stocks humanitarian supplies in Chad for refugees fleeing Sudan's violence-wracked Darfur region is being suspended, the French foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
At least a month's worth of humanitarian aid has been stocked and, with the end to the rainy season, more such aid can be brought in by road when needed, a ministry statement said.
The air bridge between the eastern Chad town of Abeche and the Sudanese frontier has brought in more than 700 tons of humanitarian aid since it was set up July 30, at a cost of almost $2m, according to the ministry.
It can be reactivated "at very short notice if circumstances justify it," the statement said.
Ethnic violence in the western Sudanese region of Darfur has forced 1.2 million people to flee their homes, some going to neighbouring Chad.
Sudan risks possible UN security council sanctions for its failure to halt Arab militias called Janjaweed, which many claim are backed by the government.
US secretary of state Colin Powell has said that genocide is being carried out by the Janjaweed.
Meanwhile, French secretary of state for foreign affairs Renaud Muselier was meeting on Tuesday with Sudan's deputy foreign minister, El Tijani Fidail, and the deputy humanitarian affairs minister, Youssouf Abdallah.
The two men were among a stream of Sudanese officials to visit France in recent months, something that foreign ministry spokesperson Herve Ladsous attributed to Paris's belief that the crisis cannot be solved without Sudan.
- SAPA