Security situation in Darfur remains tense – UN

Dec 14, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — Spokesperson of the United Nations’ Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) Radia Achouri said here on Wednesday that the security situation in Sudan’s western Darfur region remains tense.

Achouri told reporters in her weekly press conference that banditry was the main security concern in the Darfur region.

“On Dec. 9, armed tribesmen attacked eight civilians, killed two and looted their belongings,” said Achouri.

She said banditry attacks on commercial and humanitarian trucks continue in western and southern Darfur, adding that about 14 citizens have been killed by tribesmen since July.

A joint force including the African Union and the Sudanese government’s police will conduct patrols around in order to improve the security situation, said the UN official.

On the ongoing seventh round of Darfur peace talks between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels in the Nigerian capital Abuja, she said that the talks are proceeding reasonably well with some progress achieved on the power-sharing issue and that negotiations on wealth-sharing have also started in a good atmosphere.

She praised the Sudanese government for negotiating constructively and that the participation of the Sudan Liberation Movement, one of the two key Darfur rebel groups, as a unified delegation has been helpful.

But Achouri said she believed it is possible to have a framework agreement between the two sides concerning the end of the Darfur conflict by the end of this year.

(Xinhua/ST)