By Opheera McDoom and Michael Georgy KHARTOUM, March 22 (Reuters) - Sudan temporarily suspended 52 non-governmental organisations working in Darfur on Thursday as the new U.N. humanitarian chief began his first visit to the country, hoping to win aid groups better access to the region. Jamal Youssef Idriss, from the government's Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) in Nyala, said the NGOs had been suspended from working in southern Darfur state after an investigation aimed at preventing fraud found they did not comply with regulations. He said he planned to meet all the NGOs affected to discuss resuming their operations. International aid agencies have freedom of movement and can work without problems, he said. John Holmes, U.N. under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordination, said he held "very useful and constructive" talks on Darfur with Humanitarian Affairs Minister Kosti Manibe but stressed that only a political solution could end suffering in the remote region. "Obviously the first thing is to reach a political solution which will resolve the problem and remove the need for humanitarian support," said Holmes, who is due to travel to Darfur on Saturday before moving on to neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic. Local U.N. officials said Holmes, who has expressed fears that the space for humanitarian operations to work in Darfur is diminishing, was seeking better cooperation from the Sudanese government. Manibe dismissed allegations that Sudan was creating bureacratic obstacles that made it more and more difficult for aid groups and non-governmental organisations to reach Darfur. He said procedures were being studied to make it easier to get to Darfur, and condemned attacks which have killed aid workers there and restricted them by violence and intimidation. "They are there to save lives," he said. Khartoum has come under fresh pressure from Western powers to ease the suffering in Darfur, where experts estimate 200,000 have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in a four-year-old revolt. Washington calls the violence genocide. Khartoum denies genocide and allegations of widespread violations, including killings, rapes and arbitrary arrests carried out by proxy militias, and blames the abuses on rebels. WESTERN PRESSURE British Prime Minister Tony Blair is urging fellow European leaders to back targeted U.N. sanctions against the Sudanese government over the chaos in Darfur. Blair has written to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, saying it is time to get tough with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, his official spokesman said. "Enough is enough," the spokesman said, quoting from Blair's letter, which was copied to other EU leaders. "President Bashir is clearly not complying with the agreement." "The prime minister believes it's time for a new tough U.N. resolution which would mean targeted sanctions aimed at the top 100 members of Sudan's government and also at those who are supporting them." Khartoum has refused to allow U.N. troops into Darfur, saying this would amount to foreign occupation. Darfur has the world's largest humanitarian operation involving about 14,000 aid workers, most of whom are Sudanese working for international NGOs. In Juba, South Sudan's president has called for rebels from the western Darfur region to meet in his capital to build consensus ahead of possible peace talks to end the insurgency and the humanitarian crisis. In a speech to donor nations on Wednesday in Juba, Salva Kiir also said peace in Sudan had to include the entire country and the Darfur rebels should form a joint committee to prepare for the meeting which should take place in April.
