Author calls for action in Sudan

About a million people have been displaced

Scots writer Irvine Welsh has called on the government to stop a humanitarian crisis unfolding in Africa.

The Trainspotting author has returned from a week in the Darfur region of western Sudan on behalf of Unicef.

The United Nations estimates 10,000 people have died and one million have fled their homes since the beginning of an armed conflict one year ago.

Two rebel groups in Darfur took up arms last year, accusing the government of ignoring the region.

The UN has accused Sudan of backing Arab militias in a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" against black residents in Darfur.

A ceasefire has been signed with two rebel groups to allow humanitarian aid to reach those affected.

Irvine Welsh has just returned from Sudan

But United Nations officials say more aid is still needed.

The two rebel groups - the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) - have threatened to withdraw from talks in neighbouring Chad.

They accuse the government of consistently breaking the truce by bombing villages and backing an Arab militia in the area.

Mr Welsh told BBC Scotland's Sunday Live programme the situation was "very disturbing".

He said it was important to move quickly to establish security in the area.

"The crucial thing is security. Most people want to go back to their villages. There is no way they will go as things stand as they live in fear of the Arab militia, the so-called Janjaweed. They feel that government will not protect them from the Janjaweed.

"The conflict between the black African pastoralists who farm the land and the Arab nomadic tribesmen has been going on for years.

"But systematically over the past three years the Arab tribesman have been militarised, armed and co-opted into a kind of quasi-government service."

Mr Welsh said the scale of the displacement was massive but it was important to get people back to their villages before the rainy season beings.

He said: "If they stay they will be in hotbeds of plague and pestilence in these camps because the conditions are absolutely terrible and primitive and I would shudder to think what they are going to be like when the rainy season comes in.

"So things are going to have to happen really quickly. We have only got about a month before the rains start.

"The international community has to really make some decisions about what its approach is going to be to this.

"I am looking forward to see what is discussed in the House of Commons next week."