MORE ON DARFUR:

The United Nations, United States and humanitarian agencies have been urging the Khartoum government for the past several weeks to allow humanitarian agencies unimpeded access to the war-ravaged region.

Non-governmental organizations in Khartoum say the pressure is paying off and that since May 24, bureaucratic and other forms of restrictions have been eased. . . .

Meanwhile, a senior Chadian official accused Arab militias of recruiting in his country, which neighbours the Darfur region.

“There is a covert force seeking to transport the inter-Sudanese conflict (of Darfur) inside Chad,” Allami Ahmat told AFP. He is both diplomatic adviser to the Chadian president and spokesman for Chad’s mediation effort.

Mixed developments, I’d say. Meanwhile the Beirut Daily Star is chiding Arab governments:

While the United States is considering formally labeling the Darfur crisis as a genocide in progress, the world – the world beyond the Arab world that is – is justified in asking the following question: “What are the Arabs doing about this atrocity in their own back yard?”

The answer, of course – as usual – is nothing. . . . It is time for a word of advice for the Arab League: We are sick of vacuous statements – the time for action is now. In fact, the time for action was yesterday, last week, last month, last year, last decade.

Indeed.