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By Michael Georgy

El-FASHER, Sudan, March 24 (Reuters) - The United Nations' new humanitarian chief made his first trip to Sudan's Darfur region on Saturday but the visit raised little hope among people displaced by years of violence.

Inhabitants of the Abu Shouk Camp, who lined up for hours in the blistering sun to fill dirty plastic buckets from a well, seemed resigned to life in the sprawling desert base of 54,000 refugees.

Latifa Youssef said she could never go back to the village where she saw militiamen shoot her father. She spends five hours a day making bricks and carrying them to her hut on her head.

"We can't leave here because we're scared of the Janjaweed and we have no work to go back to," she said.

U.N. Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes is on his first mission to Darfur to seek better cooperation from the Sudanese government, which has been accused of creating bureaucratic obstacles for aid groups.

Khartoum has come under fresh pressure from Western powers to ease the suffering in Darfur, where experts estimate 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes after rebels rose up against the government in 2003 charging the central government neglected the remote region.

Washington calls the violence genocide and blames Khartoum for backing militias blamed for many of the worst atrocities.

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.

Khartoum has refused to allow U.N. troops into Darfur, saying this would amount to foreign occupation.

The humanitarian crisis resulting from the conflict is one of the worst in the world and aid workers say deteriorating security has greatly impeded their work.

MEMORIES

When asked if he thought the new U.N. official could help ease the suffering, 10-year-old Omar responded with a disconnected, "Arab killers".

He seemed to have settled into a routine at the camp, playing soccer in the dirt beside a sea of straw huts.

Abdullah Babikamali, 18, also spoke of killing, rape and pillaging by militias who invaded his village on horses and camels, backed by Sudanese military aircraft bombing raids.

"I want to become a doctor so I can cure people here of diseases like tuberculosis," he said, leaning on a wall with a friend, imagining a future beyond the camp where he is stuck.

For the women, there is no play or dreaming of a better future. There is only work.

"I came here three and a half years ago. We can barely find water, there's no money," said Idris Khamees, as humanitarian workers distributed blankets which many said could not accommodate families with eight or nine children.

Others wandered past donkeys holding worn out ration cards. They have a long list of needs - more food, a few pots and pans, and anything that can break the monotony.

Holmes met earlier with the north Darfur governor, who said he would answer "any questions", a promise that means little to people in Abu Shouk, which was closed to new arrivals in 2005.

There are 20,000 bricks made there every day, mostly for new homes. Some have started scratching out a living selling them.

But few imagine their toils will ever take them home again.

When asked what his parents want him to be when he grows up, young Omar didn't have much to say. "They tell me to go get water." he said, his face covered with dust.

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