Sudan pulls plug on UN operations in war-torn Darfur

A spokesman for the Sudanese foreign ministry, Jamal Ibrahim, said the ban would stay in place until the government received an "explanation" from the UN.

He said the ban was imposed because a UN helicopter had moved the rebel leader Suleiman Adam Jamous, who rejects the recently signed peace deal, without consulting the government in Khartoum. The ban will not affect two UN agencies, Unicef and the World Food Programme.

"He was picked up by the UN helicopter between el-Fasher and Musbat," Mr Ibrahim said, referring to areas in North Darfur.

"The authorities were not consulted, no permission was asked for, and it was clear negligence," he said, adding it was a "flagrant violation" of the sovereignty of Sudan.

The UN spokeswoman Radhia Achouri said the mission had not received any formal communication from the government. "We have also seen the media reports but we have not received any formal and official confirmation of this from the government of Sudan," she said.

Fighting broke out in the Darfur region in western Sudan in 2003. More than 2.5 million people have fled their homes and been forced into a series of squalid camps. An estimated 180,000 people have died.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article1096412.ece