UN mission reports new violence in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region

Fresh reports of violence continue to come in from Sudan's Darfur region, where fighting between rebels, the Government and militia forces over the past two years has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people and the displacement of nearly 2 million others, the United Nations mission reported today.

Earlier this week, an inter-agency assessment team heard reports from many internally displaced persons (IDPs) of an attack in South Darfur on 23 February, when some 26 people were killed while travelling to Salakoyo, the UN Advance Mission to the country (UNAMIS) said.

The UN, together with an African Union (AU) monitoring force, has been struggling to broker a peace accord and bring humanitarian relief to the area, where a UN-appointed inquiry commission says massive war crimes and crimes against humanity have occurred.

In southern Sudan, where a peace accord in January ended Africa's longest civil war, UNAMIS reported that there was a high risk of a measles outbreak in Ezo County and a vaccination campaign is under way.