Monday, October 23, 2006

Khartoum Expels U.N. Envoy Who Has Been Outspoken on Darfur Atrocities - New York Times

Khartoum Expels U.N. Envoy Who Has Been Outspoken on Darfur Atrocities - New York Times:
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 22 — Sudan’s government on Sunday ordered the chief United Nations envoy to leave, saying he was an enemy of the country and its armed forces.

Jan Pronk, the United Nations envoy to Sudan, has been asked to leave the country by Wednesday. He is returning to New York immediately.

Secretary General Kofi Annan said that he was reviewing the letter from the Khartoum government and had asked the envoy, Jan Pronk, to return to New York for “consultations.”

The Sudanese order said Mr. Pronk had to leave by Wednesday. United Nations officials confirmed he would depart before then and said he would need the permission of the Sudanese government to return.

Mr. Pronk, a blunt-spoken former Dutch cabinet minister, has been outspoken in reporting on the killings, rapes and other atrocities in Darfur, the region in the western part of the country where at least 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes.
This is a chilling turn of events in the Sudan. I wish I could see a clear way to seeing this situation resolve, but I expect it will get a lot worse before it starts getting better.

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