Darfur: after last month’s flare-ups, relative calm returns, UN-African mission says

The joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force Darfur (UNAMID) today reported that relative calm had returned to the war-ravaged western region of the Sudan although concern remained over continuing violence in some areas.

UNAMID noted that there had been reports of banditry in North Darfur, the state that recently witnessed an influx of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to its camps due to a fresh outburst of violence in South Darfur.

In South Darfur, where heavy fighting broke out last month between Government troops, other armed groups and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), locals have told UNAMID that armed militiamen continue to attack and harass civilians.

For its part, UNAMID said, its blue helmets continue to intensify their routine patrols as well as their investigations, their escort functions and their confidence-building measures throughout the area.

The hybrid force was set up by the Security Council to protect civilians in Darfur, where an estimated 300,000 people have been killed and another 2.7 million have been forced from their homes since fighting erupted in 2003, pitting rebels against Government forces and allied Janjaweed militiamen.

One year on from transferring the task of suppressing the violence to UNAMID from the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS), some 12,753 blue helmets are now in place across the region, a little more than 60 per cent of the 19,555 military personnel authorized by the Security Council.