UN says rape, violence on rise in Darfur

UNITED NATIONS, May 12 (AFP) — Rape, kidnapping and attacks on civilians increased last month in Sudan’s Darfur region despite a growing international effort to end the bloodshed, a senior UN official said.

Hedi Annabi, the deputy head of UN peacekeeping operations. (AFP).

Hedi Annabi, the deputy head of UN peacekeeping operations, said African Union (AU) troops were effective in helping to stem the violence where deployed but underlined the importance of the AU’s plans to beef up the force.

“Instability, violence and civilian suffering in this troubled region continue,” he said in a briefing to the UN Security Council, adding that there were also attacks on aid and relief workers.

He called the attacks a “worrying trend in light of the role played by the humanitarian community in sustaining the 2.45 million conflict-affected civilians in Darfur.”

As many as 300,000 may have died in the more than two years of violence in Darfur, which began when rebels rose up against the government in February 2003 and were put down with the help of pro-government militias.

More than two million people have been displaced, many into squalid and dangerous camps that are sometimes still targeted by the militias, known as Janjaweed.

The African Union last month announced it would almost triple the number of AU troops and observers tasked with trying to prevent further bloodshed in Darfur, a vast desert region about the size of France.

Annabi said the AU force was “having a very positive impact where it is able to deploy” and welcomed the AU’s decision to bring its total number to more than 7,000 by September.

But he stressed that a political agreement between the two main rebel groups and the Khartoum government was the only way to bring a sustainable peace to Darfur. Peace talks between the two sides are at a standstill.

“It is not yet clear whether the parties are committed to meaningful negotiations,” Annabi said. “Lasting peace in Darfur will only come through a negotiated settlement.”

The UN envoy to Sudan, however, on Wednesday said there was “stability in Darfur as far as the government and rebels are concerned.”

The envoy, Jan Pronk, said that despite the hiatus in fighting between government forces and rebels, lawlessness is still rife.