Tribal Fighting Worsens In Dafur Region

Tribal Fighting Worsens The Security Situation In Sudan’s Troubled Darfur Region: UN

Security is deteriorating further in southern areas of Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region, the United Nations mission in the country said today, citing reports of tribal conflict.

Meanwhile cholera has claimed more lives in western parts of the region the size of France, where hundreds of thousands have been killed and 2 million others displaced over the past three years due to escalating violence between the Sudanese Government, allied militias and rebel forces, according to the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

The Mission has also received reports that a Government policeman was killed in Thur in western Darfur in a shoot-out with members of the Sudan Liberation Army, a spokesman for the world body told reporters in New York.

“The UN Mission in Sudan says it has received reports that the security situation is getting worse in the town of Gereida, in South Darfur, as a result of tribal differences.

Meanwhile, in West Darfur, the Mission says it has received reports that five people have died from cholera in the town of Um Kher,” said spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Last month, Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that Darfur is headed for disaster unless the world can persuade Khartoum to accept UN peacekeepers to take over the work of the existing African Union (AU) peace operation.

However Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has repeatedly rejected a proposed UN force for Darfur as an attempt to re-colonize his country, criticizing August’s Council resolution to deploy more than 17,000 peacekeepers in the region where UN officials warn that a man-made humanitarian catastrophe is looming.

They estimate that over 400,000 people have already lost their lives and some 2 million more have been driven from their homes in three years of fighting in Darfur between the Sudanese Government, allied militias and rebel forces.

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