UN Annan calls crisis meeting on Darfur

Nov 14 2006 Bloomberg report by Ed Johnson - excerpt:

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has invited the Security Council's five permanent members to meet this week with the Sudanese government to address the crisis in Darfur.

The League of Arab States, the European Union and representatives from Congo, Gabon and Egypt have also been invited to the talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Nov 16, to be hosted by Annan and the African Union, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York yesterday.

Security in the western Sudanese region remains "volatile" with at least 37 people killed in recent days by Arab militiamen, some of whom were backed by Sudanese military vehicles, Dujarric said, according to a statement on the UN's Web site.

At the weekend, about 300 armed militiamen backed by 18 Sudanese military vehicles attacked a refugee camp in the village of Sirba in west Darfur, killing 31 people and injuring 18 others, the UN said. Arab militias attacked three villages in north Darfur on Nov. 10 killing six civilians, including four children, the UN said.

The talks in the Ethiopian capital aim to "move the peace process decisively forward," Dujarric said. The five permanent members of the Security Council are the U.S. U.K., Russia, China and France.