UN envoy voices concern over violation of security accord in Darfur

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 23, 2004 (Xinhua) — The top UN envoy for Sudan voiced deep concern at the escalating violence in the Darfur region over the last two days, a UN spokesman said here Tuesday.

Jan Pronk, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s special representative for Sudan, condemned the recent rebel attack as “a clear violation” of the just-signed peace accords with the Sudanese government, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters in New York.

The attack by the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), taking the town of Tawila in North Darfur, had already forced the suspension of humanitarian activities around El Fashir and threatened other humanitarian activities in the region, according to the spokesman.

The accords he referred to were the Protocols on the Improvement of the Humanitarian Situation and on the Enhancement of the Security Situation in Darfur signed in the Nigerian capital of Abuja earlier this month by the Government and two rebel groups.

The envoy also condemned in the strongest terms the killing of policemen and civilians at a camp in South Darfur housing displaced persons, and called on the Sudanese Government and the SLA to halt all fighting there immediately.