UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has noted an improvement in the humanitarian situation in Sudan's Darfur region.

Annan, while commending Sudan on Saturday for its achievements in Darfur, called on local authorities to exert even more effort to improve the condition of hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

On a daylong visit to South Darfur state, he was briefed by Governor al-Haj Ata al-Mannan Idris on tribal reconciliation efforts aimed at restoring social cohesion and improving the lives of residents.

Annan conceded to the governor that the overall humanitarian situation was improving, but said more efforts were needed to restore Darfur to normalcy.

Annan is scheduled to meet the African Union Mission in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, and to spend the afternoon at Kalma, one of the largest camps for people displaced by more than two years of violence.

In Khartoum on Friday, Annan met top Sudanese officials about Darfur.

"We discussed the need for us to do everything we can to bring security to Darfur, and ensure that the farmers can go back to their land, plant it, cultivate and harvest their crops. Otherwise we are going to have a major humanitarian effort which will stretch the capacities of the international community," Annan said after the meeting.

Race against time

The secretary-general's three-day visit to Sudan immediately followed his attendance at an international donors conference in Ethiopia, where Annan said the world was facing a "race against time" to prevent Darfur's situation from worsening.

By Friday, donors had pledged $300 million in cash and more in kind to help the African Union expand its peacekeeping mission in Darfur.

At least 180,000 people have died - many from hunger and disease - and about two million others have fled their homes in Darfur to escape the conflict, which erupted when rebels took up arms against what they say are years of state neglect and discrimination.

Sudan for its part has said that rebels have exploited an age old conflict between subsistence farmers and nomads over a shortage of grazing land.

On Sunday, Annan will fly to the southern Sudanese city of Juba to assess the implementation of a peace agreement signed earlier this year between the government and rebels that ended a two-decade civil war.

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