Reports Of Unrest Continue To Flow In From Darfur

Reports Of Unrest Continue To Flow In From Sudan’s Darfur Region – UN

Reports of unrest continue to flow in from various parts of Sudan’s western Darfur region, including abductions, the burning of villages, the disruption of relief operations and shooting, the United Nations mission in the country said today.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and up to 1.85 million others displaced since rebels took up arms in early 2003, partly in protest at the distribution of economic resources in Darfur, which the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

African Union (AU) monitors and humanitarian agencies last week found seven villages that have been totally burnt recently and three others abandoned in South Darfur state, but there was no information on who was responsible, the UN Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS) reported.

In North Darfur, an AU team found over the weekend that six people were abducted allegedly by three armed men who took their cattle before releasing them. In West Darfur suspected armed tribesmen disrupted a food distribution operation by a non-governmental organization (NGO), while other armed tribesmen looted 50 bags of cereal and five bags of sugar.

A report by a UN-appointed commission of inquiry into whether genocide has occurred in Darfur has found that the Government, Janjaweed militia and the rebels are responsible for possible war crimes.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO), meanwhile, is helping the Ministry of Health to raise supplementary funds to constitute a vaccine stock in the event of widespread meningitis outbreak.

According to the Ministry, between 22 January and 2 February, 69 cases, 23 deaths of them fatal, were reported from Gadaref and Blue Nile states. Since then, more cases and related deaths have been reported form South Kordofan and El Gazeria states.

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