BBC NEWS Thousands flee Darfur, warns UN A surge in violence in Sudan's Darfur region in recent months has forced some 200,000 people to flee their homes, according to the UN children's agency.
A Unicef spokesman said fighting involving pro-government forces and rebels had pushed the total of displaced people to over two million. The situation was deteriorating, the spokesman warned, with malnutrition on the increase and many cut off from aid. Mediators are trying to get the warring sides to reach a peace deal by Sunday. The African Union has set a 30 April deadline for the government and rebel groups to accept their draft peace agreement which addresses power-sharing, wealth-sharing and security. "This is decision time. No more procrastination, no more antics, no more delaying tactics. The eyes of the world are on you," said Ahmed Salim Ahmed, the chief AU mediator. Jockeying for power Nearly two years of the AU-mediated talks in Abuja between the Sudanese government and the two main rebel groups have failed to end a conflict regarded as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Unicef is now warning that the situation is once again deteriorating. "In the last three months, alone, there have been 200,000 people newly displaced in Darfur," Mr Chaiban said. In any other country that would be front-page news, he said. "Southern Darfur has seen both government-rebel fighting but also jockeying for power between the rebel movements," Mr Chaiban said. About a third of displaced people are cut off from aid as humanitarian agencies cannot reach them because of the fighting. Mr Chaiban said that malnutrition levels were on the rise again but because Unicef had received only $15m of the $89m promised by donors it was having to cut back on some aid programmes. "We don't have the resources to buy nutritional supplies. It's a double jeopardy to have lack of security, lack of access and now lack of funding," Mr Chaiban said. Sanctions Sudan's government has consistently said the scale of the problem in Darfur is being exaggerated for political reasons. The authorities in Khartoum deny backing the Arab Janjaweed militias which are accused of mass rape, killing and looting. The government has reacted angrily to Tuesday's decision by the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on four Sudanese officials accused of war crimes in Darfur. It was "unfortunate and ill-timed" and sent a "negative message" that could undermine the African Union's peace negotiations, the official Suna news agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying. "The efforts currently being exerted in Abuja have neared their end and what is needed now is support and not the use of the stick," spokesman Jamal Ibrahim said. . Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4947788.stm Published: 2006/04/26 17:09:31 GMT © BBC MMVI Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
