The following report was released by the United Nations this morning. What it suggests is that the killing in Sudan continues, by janjaweed militias supported by government aircraft. This report is consistent with the Sudanese Interior Minister's candid public statement (see below) that Sudan does not intend to disarm the militias. More important, it indicates that the government continues to partner with the militias to drive people into refugee camps and terrorise them--thus setting up conditions for mass starvation and disease.
Sudan: Militias Attacking Humanitarian Convoys, Says UNUN Integrated Regional Information Networks
July 7, 2004
Posted to the web July 7, 2004Nairobi
Armed men, some in military uniform, have continued to attack humanitarian convoys in western Sudan's Darfur region, according to a UN spokeswoman.
"Military personnel, uniformed men and 'unidentified persons on camels' had stopped and attacked clearly marked convoys of humanitarian workers in the west and north of Sudan's volatile Darfur region," UN News quoted Marie Okabe as telling journalists in New York on Tuesday.
It added that both the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan Liberation Army had increased the number of road checkpoints in Darfur, thereby slowing down the flow of humanitarian assistance for the estimated two million people affected by the conflict.
In Southern Darfur, civilians were still being displaced by tribal fighting and attacks by government-backed Janjawid militias, which have been broadly accused of perpetrating atrocities in Darfur.
UN News noted that the reports followed an agreement between UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who was in the Sudan last week, and the Sudanese government for Khartoum to disarm the Janjawid and remove all obstacles to relief efforts.
It quoted staff of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nyala, the capital of Southern Darfur State, as reporting the arrival "in the last few days" in a nearby camp for internally displaced persons [IDPs] of more than 100 people "telling harrowing tales of attacks by the Janjawid and Sudanese government forces". They had said "their villages were first hit by bombs from airplanes and helicopter gunships, before armed men arrived in trucks and on horses and camels and killed their relatives and neighbours, raped women, stole their livestock and possessions and burned their homes".
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