Crowds mob UN chief on Darfur camp visit

AL-SALAM CAMP, Sudan, Sept 6 (Reuters) Thousands of displaced Sudanese mobbed UN chief Ban Ki-moon yesterday as he visited their camp in the troubled Darfur region on a tour aimed at pressing for a political solution to the conflict.

Ban's convoy sped through al-Salam camp in North Darfur state but stopped to let him address crowds who chanted ''Welcome Ban Ki-moon'' and waved banners supporting a rebel chief.

Dressed in open-necked shirt and blue UN baseball cap, the UN secretary-general told a crowd: ''We must protect human rights. We must help all of you return to your homes and land.'' Ban told journalists on the trip he had made good progress in organising a date and venue for long-promised peace talks expected to take place in October between the government of Sudan and Darfur's splintered rebel groups.

''I am really going to step up this political negotiation process,'' Ban said, adding that he wanted to build the foundations for the deployment of a 26,000-strong ''hybrid'' force of UN and African Union peacekeepers.

''The hybrid troop process should be accompanied by a political process. Otherwise our peacekeepers or police or civilian workers will have a lot of difficulty in carrying out their roles,'' he said.

UN officials said Ban's trip to al-Salam camp had been so quick because his security team had been unnerved by two disruptions to his visit earlier in the day.

His meeting with leaders of displaced groups in state capital El Fasher was disrupted when 20 people tried to barge in, saying they represented other displaced communities. They were ordered out and the meeting was moved to another venue.

Ban played down the incident, telling journalists: ''You cannot expect all four million internally displaced persons to have the same views.'' He later met the ejected group.

The secretary-general was earlier handed a petition by a small group claiming to represent people displaced by the conflict, calling on him to support a government-backed policy to encourage displaced Darfuris to return to their villages.

Most displaced groups in Darfur have opposed this policy, saying continued hostilities would make returning too hazardous.

PORTRAITS OF REBEL LEADER Most of the refugees who greeted Ban appeared to be supporters of the founder of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army, Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, who has said he will not go to talks until an international force is in place.

African Union troops held back the crowds who waved banners bearing Abdel Wahed's portrait and the messages: ''No violence in the camps'' and ''Disarm the Janjaweed'', referring to a name for militias blamed for much of Darfur's violence.

Ban's stop at a UNICEF-funded water tower underlined his belief that water shortages linked to global warming are one of the factors in the conflict. He told the crowd: ''I am here to bring you a message of hope, peace and security -- and water.'' He met officials from the African Union Mission in Sudan, the force the hybrid troops will replace when they arrive.

They said they briefed him on serious underfunding of the mission, adding that while the official strength of the AU force in Darfur is 7,000, there are now 5,915 troops on the ground.

International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes during the more than four years of fighting in Darfur. Sudan puts the death toll from the conflict, which flared when rebel groups took up arms against the government charging it with neglect, at 9,000.

A senior UN official travelling with Ban said there had been progress in finalising arrangements to fly a sick Darfur rebel out of Sudan to receive medical treatment in Kenya.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir gave Ban a pledge on Monday that Suleiman Jamous would be able to leave effective house arrest as soon as arrangements could be made.

Yesterday in Khartoum the government-backed Popular Defence Forces militia, blamed for much of the violence in Darfur, said it would accept a hybrid force as long as it stays within its mandate. It had vowed last year to treat any UN force as an invading army in a state of war with Khartoum.

Its announcement yesterday brings its position into line with that of the government, which agreed to the force in July after long negotiations over the details.

REUTERS PBB RN0552