Humanitarian Crisis

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell appealed to Sudanese President Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir to rein in militias that he said were responsible for a humanitarian crisis in western Sudan. Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail, appearing later with Powell in Khartoum, the capital, said there might be some humanitarian problems in Darfur province but insisted that "there is no famine, no malnutrition and no disease."

Heavy fighting erupted in northern Afghanistan, apparently marking the start of a spring offensive despite the country's deepening humanitarian crisis. The outbreak came amid appeals for peace from the United Nations, which is trying to help Afghans displaced by war and drought. An opposition spokesman said the ruling Taliban had made a predawn attack on opposition bunkers in the northeastern province of Takhar and the Baghlan province to its south.

Two days of heavy artillery and mortar fire killed more than 80 Tamil Tiger rebels, Sri Lanka's military said, as the United Nations warned of an impending humanitarian crisis in areas cut off by fierce fighting. The military said the rebel deaths came during intermittent shelling along their de facto border in Muhamalai, in the north. Only minimal aid has been able to reach tens of thousands of people displaced by weeks of fighting in the north and east of the country, the U.N. said.

Israel reopened the main goods crossing into the Gaza Strip after warnings of a looming humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory, but later closed it again, citing a security alert. Six trucks carrying flour and sugar went through the Karni terminal, Palestinian officials said. But an Israeli army spokeswoman said the crossing was shut again because of an alert.

Sudan's President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir said his government could resolve through dialogue the conflict in the nation's western region of Darfur. The United Nations says the region is the site of the world's worst humanitarian crisis. "The Sudanese people and their government are capable of reaching a solution to the problem in Darfur through constructive dialogue," Bashir told reporters in Khartoum, the capital. The U.N.

Thirty-seven Africans aboard an aid agency's ship were allowed to dock at Porto Empedocle, Sicily, but the captain, a crew member and the head of the aid agency were held on suspicion of aiding illegal immigration. The German aid group Cap Anamur said its ship rescued the men from a broken-down vessel in the Mediterranean Sea on June 20. Some refugees had said they were fleeing a humanitarian crisis in Sudan, but police said they apparently were from Ghana and Nigeria.

Israel opened border crossings with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip for one day, allowing in limited amounts of food and fuel for the second time in three weeks after the United Nations warned of a looming humanitarian crisis. Aid groups said the move would have minimal impact because border crossings have been closed for so long, depleting reserves of everything from flour to animal feed. Israel clamped down on humanitarian imports to the Gaza Strip after Nov. 4, when a deadly army raid into the coastal territory triggered a surge in rocket attacks.

Militiamen in eastern Congo have kidnapped hundreds of civilians from rival ethnic groups, decapitating some, torturing others and forcing the rest to work as porters or sex slaves, the U.N. said in a report based on testimony from survivors. "Vital organs were said to have been cut off and used as magic charms.... Children were thrown onto arrows stuck into the ground," it said.