Fighting in Darfur rages on, continues to block aid: UN agencies
GENEVA, July 6 (AFP) — Fighting is still raging in Sudan’s western region of Darfur and hampering emergency aid despite pressure applied by UN secretary General Kofi Annan and the US Secretary of State Colin Powell during recent visits, UN aid agencies said Tuesday.
“Despite the sincere hopes raised by the visits… violence and insecurity are carrying on,” World Food Programme (WFP) spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume told journalists.
“The situation has not improved, the degree of insecurity is really complicating an already difficult humanitarian situation,” she added.
Annan and Powell were among a ream of senior officials and ministers who visited Darfur and Khartoum in recent weeks, to press the Sudanese authorities to stop attacks by government-backed Janjawid militia on villages in the area.
But Berthiaume said local Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) rebels, who rose up last year against alleged government neglect and mistreatment in Darfur, were also to blame for the fighting.
“We have to be clear about this: the insecurity in Darfur, which really is the biggest obstacle at the moment, is not only due to the Janjawid, but also the SLA,” Berthiaume said.
Fighting has intensified in the south of Darfur, forcing 600 people to flee to the town of Ed Daein in south Darfur over the weekend, she added.
A railway station there was attacked and burned by rebels, hampering the delivery of emergency food aid by train, while the main road between the city of Nyala and the southern town was also blocked by fighting, Berthiaume said.
The UN refugee agency also said heavy fighting was continuing to displace civilians in Darfur, where about 1.2 million people have fled their homes.
The fighting was centred on an area south-east of Nyala, where the Sudanese government and militia last week reportedly launched an offensive against territory largely held by the SLA rebels, UNHCR said.
Civilians reported that “their villages were bombed by Antonov aircraft and helicopter gunships,” according to UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis.
“After that, they tell us, armed men in pickup trucks and on horseback and camelback killed men, women and children, raped women, stole their possessions and animals, and burned down their homes,” she added.
The crisis in Darfur was the focus of attention at the third summit of the African Union, which opened Tuesday in Addis Ababa.
“Without action, the brutalities already inflicted on the civilian population of Darfur could be a prelude to even greater humanitarian catastrophe, a catastrophe that could destabilize the region,” Annan told the summit’s opening session.