UN: Sudanese returning from Chad to West Darfur have reported that Arab Janjaweed militia continue to kill and rape civilians and steal livestock during raids on villages, the United Nations said yesterday.
The United States indicated a hardening of its position last night. The State Department said it was preparing a new UN resolution on Darfur and that US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell might address next week whether the violence in western Sudan constituted genocide.
The State Department declined to detail what may be in any new resolution on Darfur, where US and UN officials accuse marauding government-backed militias of ethnic cleansing against villagers in a campaign of murder, rape and arson.
According to the UN, some 500 displaced families, who went back to West Darfur province since July after fleeing to eastern Chad, said they were afraid to venture far from their makeshift camp near Saleah, north of the state capital of Geneina.
The report by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which also interviewed displaced people in the nearby villages of Sirba and Kondebe, came a day after the US accused Sudan of using attack helicopters against African villagers.
"They reported ongoing incidents such as livestock theft, physical assault, rape, killings and attacks on villages by the Janjaweed militia," UNHCR spokeswoman Ms Jennifer Pagonis said.
"Some of the community leaders reported that because of the continued incidents, even those who have recently returned from Chad are considering fleeing again across the border."
However, the local Sudanese authorities recently increased security efforts in the area, the UNHCR said.