US ‘gravely concerned’ at upsurge in Darfur violence

WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (AFP) — The United States said it was “gravely concerned” by an upsurge in violence in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region and called on the government and rebel groups to respect a ceasefire.

Women collect water at a communal pump in Kekabiya, in Sudan’s North Darfur state, November 17, 2004. (Reuters).

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said both sides had been violating the truce but cited reports suggesting that the government “was acting in a more forceful manner” and using airplanes in its operations.

“The United States is gravely concerned by the intensified violence that has been taking place in Darfur in recent days,” Boucher told reporters. “Both sides need to pull back and respect the ceasefire.”

He made his remarks as African Union mediators met Monday with delegates from the Sudanese government and two main rebel groups in a bid to revive stalled talks on the fighting that has left an estimated 70,000 people dead and 1.5 million displaced.

Boucher expressed support for African Union efforts to end the crisis and said, “we will continue to support the accelerated deployment of (the) African Union mission and the exercise of their expanded mandate.”

The spokesman said the current situation in Darfur was unclear but there were unconfirmed reports the government and Janjaweed militias might have pulled back after a surge in activity. He also spoke of reports that an African Union monitoring helicopter had been fired on.

“The government has airplanes, helicopters and other heavy weapons that are interfering and have been used in the past,” Boucher said. “And so there’s a particular responsibility that falls on the government.”

Boucher renewed a call for both sides to cooperate fully with international humanitarian efforts while peace efforts continue. “We’re working very closely with the AU. We stayed very closely in touch with them at high levels,” he said.