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Upsurge in Sudan crime - UN
23/11/2005 13:58 - (SA)
United Nations - A monthly United Nations report on the situation in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region spotlighted an upsurge in killings of civilians, including children, and rape of women during the month of October.
The report by UN chief Kofi Annan, which was unveiled this week, said that despite government pledges to launch joint military and police patrols on highways to improve security, "lawlessness and banditry have reached dangerous levels".
It said the upsurge in violence against civilians seriously affected children, with several killed or abducted in the region.
The violence also hampered the delivery of humanitarian aid and reduced initially improved prospects for the return of internally displaced people in some areas.
The report said the UN mission in Sudan (UNMIS) continued to document cases of sexual violence against women and girls on a weekly basis, particularly in western Darfur where 21 cases - nine of rapes, four of attempted rape and eight of assault - were reported.
The violence also targeted the African Union mission in Sudan (AMIS), with five AMIS troops killed in a firefight with an armed group - the mission's first such deaths.
"Armed clashes and banditry in western Darfur have placed severe limitations on the movement of the humanitarian community in Geneina (western Darfur)," the report said.
"All roads out of the town are restricted for humanitarian traffic and non-essential United Nations [personnel], and some staff of international non-governmental organizations have been relocated."
The security situation was also reported to be very tense in parts of southern Darfur, with incidents of banditry occurring daily.
Annan made it clear that a political solution was "paramount" and required co-ordination between the Sudanese and the international community to pave the way for a successful conclusion to the forthcoming seventh round of peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria.
"It should be made clear to all parties that the AU-facilitated peace talks in Abuja are the only vehicle for achieving a viable solution," the report said.
Sunday in Khartoum, an AU spokesperson said the seventh round of peace talks had been postponed for "logistical reasons" amid a rift between Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) founder Abdel Wahed Mohammed Nur and the head of the military wing, Mani Arko Minawi.
Those talks, between the SLM, Darfur's other rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and Khartoum, had been due to begin in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on Monday.
The African Union (AU) on Tuesday threatened to impose sanctions against the SLM, which it said was hindering peace efforts.
The AU Peace and Security Council said divisions in the leadership of the SLM were hurting efforts to resolve the 33-month-old Darfur conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands lives.
- AFP
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