ABUJA, Sept 1 (AFP) - Sudanese government and rebel leaders inched closer to compromise here Wednesday on a proposed African Union agreement to protect the Darfur region's 1.2 million displaced people from hunger, rape and murder.

After eight days of peace talks in the Nigerian capital, envoys from Sudan's government and Darfur's two rebel movements were still squabbling over the first point on their agenda: a deal to guarantee access to humanitarian teams.

When they returned to the table on Wednesday

Interview (01.09.2004)

Question: Pascal Mangin, you are deputy to the Mayor of Strasbourg and, in that capacity, a member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. You

UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters today at UN Headquarters that the report, which examines implementation of the Council's latest resolution on Sudan, has been circulated to the members - but not officially made public - ahead of tomorrow's open meeting

Norwegian special envoy Erik Solheim is to pay a visit to the country to meet senior government officials and the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

Solheim has been shuttling between Norway and Sri Lanka since May in his attempt to start the peace process stalled since April 2003.

The five members of the National Independent Electoral Commission, both men and women, represent various ethnic groups and regions.

All five come from civil society, and

JOHANNESBURG, 1 September (IRIN) - The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, expects to repatriate over half the 71,420 Angolan refugees remaining in camps and settlements in Zambia by the end of the year, the organisation said in a progress report released this week.

Earlier this month, with the help of the International Organisation for Migration, UNHCR began airlifting Angolan refugees from Mongu in western Zambia to Lumbala N'Guimbo in eastern Angola. A new overland corridor was also opened On 17 August when an inaugural

No cases have been reported from the Eastern part of Chad where the refugees from Darfur are gathering, though

"The three WFP staff members and three members of Sudanese Red Crescent (SRC) were released by the SLM (Sudan Liberation Movement) this morning," Peter Smerdon told AFP by phone.

There were only three SRC workers, and not five as earlier thought when they were snatched on Saturday, he explained.

The humanitarian workers "were being

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has today protested to the Israeli Government at the ongoing closure of the Erez Crossing into the Gaza Strip. The closure, which began on Tuesday 31 August, seriously damages UNRWA's ability to carry out its humanitarian mandate in the occupied Palestinian territory.

In an unprecedented and serious development, the Israeli authorities have barred Peter Hansen, UNRWA's Commissioner-General and an Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, from leaving Gaza