Wednesday, April 5 2006 10:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

United Nations: The UN has expressed regret at Sudan's decision to prevent a senior United Nations official from visiting its strife-torn Darfur region.

On Sunday, Syria refused to allow UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland to visit the region to assess the situation and did not give any reason for doing so.

Western diplomats said the situation there is so bad that Khartoum did not want the UN official to see it.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed regret over the incident but said he was trying to speak to Syrian President Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir to ask him to allow Egeland entry and to know why he wasn't let in.

The Security Council members endorsed Annan's decision.

Diplomats said Russia, China and Qatar wanted the statement to focus on the humanitarian situation rather than the Egeland incident and expect him to brief the Council when he returns to New York.

According to US envoy Jackie Sanders, Sudan needs to cooperate more - particularly on humanitarian aspects.

Egeland's plane was refused permission to land on Sunday at the start of what was to have been a five-day visit to Africa's largest country, where the UN is heavily involved in trying to both ease the Darfur crisis and promote the rehabilitation of the recently pacified South.

More than 180,000 people have been killed, at least two million uprooted and numerous women raped in Darfur where fighting between pro-government Arab militias and rebels is going on despite international criticism.