Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern is to meet government officials in Sudan today in a bid to persuade them to allow a UN peacekeeping force into the Darfur region.
Dermot Ahern
As part of a week-long visit to Sudan and Ethiopa, Mr Ahern is expected to tell officials that deploying a UN peacekeeping force is a priority, following calls by the African Union and UN general secretary Kofi Annan to allow the peacekeeping force into Darfur.
Some two million people are believed to have been killed and four million people displaced by fighting in the South Sudan, with two million displaced in the Darfur region. However, violence and instability in the region is hindering efforts of relief workers to provide humanitarian aid in Darfur.
Mr Ahern is also expected to put pressure on the Sudanese government to ensure that the distribution of aid in the troubled Darfur region is not hindered.
Humanitarian organisation Goal is due to meet the minister while he is visiting the region.
Violence in the region has forced the organisation to scale back its efforts to provide relief to the people located in camps in Darfur.
"It is completely unacceptable that the valuable work of humanitarian organisations and the United Nations is being hindered," Mr Ahern said earlier today.