Not surprisingly, the Sudanese government has rejected the latest UN proposal for peacekeeping forces. Representatives issued a harsh warning to the sponsors of this resolution — the United States and Britain — asserting that it was an attempt at re-colonization.
“The draft resolution is worse than previous ones as it is an attempt to impose complete tutelage on the Sudan,” National Congress Party chairperson Ghazi Salah Eldin Atabani was quoted as saying after a meeting on Wednesday.
“Any state that sponsors this draft resolution will be regarded as assuming a hostile attitude against the Sudan,” said the official, describing the draft as “unacceptable and not negotiable under any sort of pressure”.
Meanwhile, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has warned that 200 of the refugees living in camps have been raped in the last five weeks.
In Kalma – Darfur’s biggest camp for internally displaced people – there used to be two to three reports of sexual violence a month, the IRC says.
But in the past five weeks, the figures has spiralled to 200 women and young girls, some as young as 13.
It is yet further evidence, relief workers say, that security is worsening in one of the most troubled regions of the world.
There has also been an escalation of attacks against humanitarian aid workers, some of whom have had to cease operations.
At the beginning of August, it was reported that at least seven humanitarian workers had been slain in the region after the African Union peacekeeping force was reduced because of a lack of funding. The Sudanese government continues to say that all of these reports of violence are old, and that there’s no longer bloodshed happening in Darfur.