Fresh Clashes Kill Many in Darfur

Darfur, Sudan

More than 50 people have been killed and several others injured in a fresh wave of clashes in the troubled western Sudan region of Darfur, rendering security situation in the area tense. Over 50 people are said to have been killed in Tabarat village of North Darfur

last week following attacks at a market place by unidentified armed group according to sources revealed to the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission-UNAMID.

In a separate incident nine inhabitants of the Hamadiya internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Zalingei, West  Darfur have died and 20 others injured after a firefight in the camp earlier this week. Security in the area has been intensified including night patrols following the mission’s reinforcement of its presence in the area.

Death toll in Darfur is estimated at 300,000 and further 2.7 million displaced since the conflict broke out in 2003. The government places the figures at 10,000 saying that the Darfur crisis has been exaggerated for political reasons.

Protracted conflicts between government troops and rebels formations among inter-tribal and splintering groups’ clashes have hindered efforts in finding a permanent solution to the conflict.

Fighting in Darfur has intensified in the recent past after top rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) pulled out of the Qatari sponsored peace talks with the government, accusing it of acting in bad faith.

A warrant of arrest has been issued by the Hague-based ICC for President Omar Al-Bashir for alleged war crimes committed in Darfur- charges he strongly denies.

Kinshasa, DR Congo

The UN ‘Failed’ Mass Rape Victims

The United Nations peacekeepers failed to protect the victims of mass rape attack in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a senior UN official has said. Atul Khare, UN Assistant Secretary-General for peacekeeping operations told the Security Council how inadequate actions by the peacekeepers resulted to unacceptable brutalization of villages in the North Kivu area, apart from failure by the state in its primary responsibility to provide its civilians with protection.

Mr. Khare was sent by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to investigate the attacks which were first reported by the International Medical Corps which was treating the victims. Up to500 women and children were discovered to have systematically been raped between July30 and August 3 in North and South Kivu and other regions during the massive sexual violence believed to have been carried out by Rwandan FDLR group and Congolese Mai-Mai group.

Apart from 242 rapes reported earlier around Luvungi, 30km from a UN base, 260 more cases in Uvira area came to light during the envoys’ meeting with the victims.

The Congolese government has called for the UN’s direct support of its army against the militias, amid earlier demands by President Joseph Kabila to end the peacekeeping mission by September next year. Khare also recommended for considerations by the Security Council to impose targeted sanctions for the FDLR leaders both within and outside the country, rallying for prosecution of the rebels who are implicated in the attacks.

The UN peacekeeping mission is expected to reinforce its presence in the reported regions by performing random checks and night patrols and also improving on its communication networks. At least 8,300 rapes were reported by the UN in 2009, with many going unreported in the ccentral African state where rape has been commonly used by insurgent groups as a weapon of war.