"We have to come up with a solution on the ground within the next few weeks."

Gration was speaking a month to the day after the government expelled 13 international aid agencies in protest at an arrest warrant against President Omar al-Beshir for alleged war crimes in Dafur.

He said it was imperative to get assistance into the country "so that these people don't die and they don't incur any more suffering," but also expressed confidence that "this crisis can be avoided."

"What I see as immediate problems are water and health care," he said, arguing that the "crisis can be prevented and mitigated by coming up with a flexible, creative and workable plan to ensure these folks can have access to critical medical sanitation and nutrition assistance too."

Gration reached out to local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as an initial step with the hope of widening the scope for others eventually.

"We want to work with Sudanese NGOs. I believe they have the capability to fill some of the gaps in terms of food."

"We need an environment where we can use all sources, NGO help, maybe NGOs that come in from Arab nations, additional NGOs from traditional donor countries and maybe a workable solution for some of the people that have been working in the area historically."

The retired air force general said there also needed to be a political solution to the Darfur conflict.

"We all have to embark on a very aggressive short-term process to bring peace to this region," he said.

"I believe we can all work together and that means the rebels groups and the government and other folks that have an interest here to come up with a solution that works for everybody."

Gration began his visit on Thursday with an appeal for stronger relations with Khartoum, meeting with several Sudanese officials.

On Friday, he met opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, who told reporters the new US administration had "a much more positive attitude" toward the Islamic world.

US President Barack Obama had said his envoy would try to kickstart discussions between rebels and the government in order to end the conflict

Obama, speaking on Monday, said he hoped to find a way for humanitarian workers to resume their work in Darfur.

"We have to figure out a mechanism to get those NGOs back in place, to reverse that decision, or to find some mechanism whereby we avert an enormous humanitarian crisis," Obama said.

The Darfur question has garnered much attention in the United States, where groups such as "Save Darfur" are pushing for a solution to the war.

The Sudanese president has remained defiant about his government's decision to expel the aid agencies.

"In one year we will Sudanise all the aid on the ground and we can fill the gap in food distribution within one year because the Sudanese Red Crescent already distributes 45 percent of the food in Darfur," Beshir said during a visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

Darfur conflict lasting 'too long': Mbeki

The conflict in Darfur has dragged on for too long, former South African president Thabo Mbeki said Saturday after talks with Sudanese leader Omar al-Beshir.

"This conflict has lasted too long," Mbeki told reporters in Khartoum, where he is leading a high-level African Union panel that is looking into the conflict and drawing up recommendations for the AU peace and security council.

"It has been very costly in all sort of ways," he said. "Something must be done in order to end it as soon as possible."

The AU panel has been meeting this week with Sudanese government officials, Darfur tribal leaders, representatives of displaced victims of the fighting, and the chiefs of the hybrid AU-UN mission in Darfur.

"We were very pleased indeed when the president said that an instruction had been given to all ministers and departments and so on to fully cooperate with the panel," Mbeki told reporters.

Critics say the ICC warrant singles out weak states like Sudan, while taking a hypocritical stance towards countries like the US and Israel by ignoring worse atrocities committed by them, and by not charging American and Israeli officials with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Other critics say the ICC warrant could lead to more, rather than less, bloodshed in Sudan's Darfur region.

The Darfur conflict erupted in February 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government in Khartoum and its allies.

Over the last six years, the rebels have fractured into multiple movements, fraying rebel groups, banditry, flip-flopping militias and the war has widened into overlapping tribal conflicts.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died from the combined effects of war, famine and disease and more than 2.7 million fled their homes.

Islamic grouping plans Darfur aid project

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference on Friday announced a project to step up help to the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur following last month's expulsion of 13 international aid agencies.

The plan envisages "urgent and continued aid services," help for refugees to go home and rebuilding in the war-torn western region, according to documents presented to a conference in Libya of humanitarian agencies in OIC member states.

Atta al-Manan Bakhit, deputy general secretary of the Saudi-based IOC, said that his organisation was not seeking to replace the departed aid groups.

"Our aim is to coordinate the action of Muslim NGOs already active in Darfur in coordination with the United Nations. These NGOs have very few resources and cannot remain in the field for long," he said.

A new meeting within the next month will officially launch a programme of "media campaigns and donations in all member countries," Bakhit said.

The project "should be operational in two months at the latest," he told the conference, attended by around 30 agencies from 12 countries including Sudan.

The OIC said 25 organisations from its member countries operate in Darfur, around 20 percent of all NGOs and international agencies active in the region.

http://www.middle-east-online.com