Fighting erupts in South Darfur

DARFUR, Sudan, Sep 29, 2004 (UPI) — Fighting erupted in Sudan’s South Darfur state, forcing another 5,000 people from their homes, the U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks reports.

The fighting broke out earlier this week and refugees are reported sheltering under trees, without food or water.

“We are very concerned about this highly insecure and dangerous situation. We are seeing more and more civilians being driven from their homes by fighting. The international community must continue to try and negotiate peace in the region,” Martha Clarke, head of public relations for Action by Churches Together/Caritas, told IRIN.

In Khartoum, Muhammad Yusuf Abdallah, the minister of state at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, accused rebel groups in Darfur of violating the cease-fire, the Sudanese news agency reported.

ACT/Caritas said in a news release Janjaweed militia mounted on horses and camels attacked villages and then soldiers moved in.

“They started shooting at us and looted everything in the village,” the news release quoted a woman as saying. The villagers said as many as 300 soldiers were involved in the attacks.

Some 1.45 million people have been displaced and another 200,000 have fled across the border into Chad since fighting began last year.