Bashir warrant threat to talks, says UN mediator

Mr Bashir, defying the international arrest warrant, travelled to Libya yesterday for talks with leader Muammar Gaddafi.

They discussed the humanitarian situation in Darfur and would try to narrow the divisions between the Khartoum government and the UN mission in the region.

UN humanitarian chief John Holmes told the council that while efforts by remaining aid groups and Sudan’s government “can plug some of the holes for the next few weeks” after the expulsions, “the cumulative effects over time ... significantly increase the risks to well over a million people.”

But Sudan’s envoy Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem told reporters “the humanitarian situation is absolutely under control.”