Sudan refusal to issue visas worries UN council

UN Security Council members expressed concern on Wednesday that Sudan's government was still blocking a UN team from visiting Darfur to help plan for a UN peacekeeping mission there later this year.

Khartoum has also been noncommittal on visas for a planned visit by Security Council ambassadors, to be led by Britain and planned for early June, council diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

And in London, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said in a speech to an Easter banquet: "As a matter of urgency, we need to get a UN planning mission into Sudan."

Full report by Irwin Arieff April 26 (Reuters)