Violence is increasing in camps for displaced people in Darfur, where nearly a quarter million people have been displaced so far this year, a UN report said today.
The United Nations said rising violence in the overcrowded camps of the remote region of western Sudan was making it harder to carry out humanitarian aid work to help the thousands of newcomers arriving each week.
"Over 240,000 people have been newly displaced or re-displaced during 2007," the UN report said. "In many IDP [internally displaced people]camps, armed elements are present, and violent incidents are increasing."
"During August, humanitarian activities had to be suspended in several camps due to insecurity," the report added.
More than four years of ethnic and political conflict in Darfur has left 200,000 dead and driven another 2.5 million from their homes, international experts say. Khartoum says that is an exaggeration, and puts the death toll at 9,000.
The central Khartoum government has agreed to hold talks with rebel groups in Libya on Oct. 27 to try to end the violence in Darfur, which pits largely African rebels against mostly Arab militias mobilised to quell a 2003 revolt.
Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said "the slightly more energised peace process" in Darfur and the pending deployment of a joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force may help calm the region.
"These two initiatives certainly give cause for some optimism that the human rights situation could improve," Ms our told a Geneva news briefing.
But she said Sudan was doing little to prosecute those responsible for ongoing crimes in Darfur, including for sexual attacks against women living in camps.
The United Nations said that humanitarian operations had to be suspended due to insecurity in Zalingei Camp in West Darfur for two days this year, while Kalma camp in the south was closed to aid operations for three days.
So far this year, the report said, humanitarian workers have been forced to move out on 24 occasions.