UN says Darfur clashes hinder access to refugees

KHARTOUM, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Clashes between Sudanese army and rebel forces in Darfur are hindering aid agencies trying to assess the needs of some of the more than one million displaced people there, the United Nations said on Monday.

“Due to clashes … an interagency team was not able to commence assessment of villages in Tawilla rural areas,” it said, adding the fighting was in North Darfur state, about 70 km (45 miles) west of the capital El-Fasher.

The U.N. said it received similar reports of fighting in Ailliet, about 250 km (150 miles) southeast of the capital.

A U.N. Security Council resolution passed on Saturday threatens economic sanctions on Khartoum if it does not stop violence in Darfur, which Washington has termed genocide. The U.N. says fighting has displaced 1.5 million people, with more than 200,000 refugees in neighbouring Chad, in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

African Union monitors say they have confirmed 20 violations in the past two months of an April ceasefire. They say the violations were from all sides.

The U.N. report said the biggest cause of death in the Darfur camps was diarrhoea, but that a confirmed case of meningitis in Mornei camp was causing concern. An outbreak of Hepatitis E, a water-borne disease, was being brought under control, it added.

Banditry on roads in South Darfur state was a problem, the U.N. said. A lorry carrying World Food Programme (WFP) commodities was attacked on Sept. 16.

A WFP spokesman has said the bandits appeared to be random looters, with some dressed in ragged parts of Sudanese army uniform and others in civilian clothing.

After years of low-level conflict between Arab nomads and African farmers, rebels launched a revolt last year accusing the government of supporting Arab militias, known as Janjweed, to loot and burn African villages.

Khartoum admits arming some militias to fight the rebels, but denies any links to the Janjaweed, calling them bandits.