SUDAN: Villagers returning to their homes in Sudan's Darfur region are living in fear of the Janjaweed Arab militiamen who initially drove them away, according to a United Nations report.
Sudan has about two weeks to prove to the UN Security Council it has made progress in improving Darfur's security situation, or face unspecified sanctions.
"A UN team reported on August 12th that it found approximately 2,700 returnees in Sani Deleiba ... that lived in fear due to heavy Janjaweed presence in the area," the UN said in a weekly report on the situation in Darfur.
Sani Deleiba in South Darfur state is one of the places which Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail designated on Sunday as a safe area.
Rights groups and rebels accuse Khartoum of arming the Janjaweed - a term possibly derived from the Arabic for "devils on horseback" - to loot and burn African farming villages as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
A top UN official in Sudan expressed concern on Sunday about the lack of progress in reining in the Janjaweed fighters in the area.
The world body says 50,000 people have been killed and one million displaced to camps since fighting broke out between the government and two main rebel groups in early 2003. About 200,000 refugees from Darfur are encamped in neighbouring Chad.
Rwandan troops arrived in Darfur on Sunday as the first foreign force there, mandated to protect observers monitoring a shaky ceasefire between the government and the rebels.
The head of the African Union ceasefire commission, Mr Festus Okonkwo, said Nigerian soldiers would arrive in Darfur on August 25th.
Few of the displaced have tried to go home, despite poor conditions in the camps and the government's attempts to reassure them that they will be safe in their villages.
"IDPs (internally displaced people) continue to highlight protection concerns and to reiterate their unwillingness to return due to continuing Janjaweed attacks and continuing insecurity in some areas," the UN report added.
Aid organisation CARE International had stopped operating in the Kalma camp in South Darfur state after a man was killed there on Friday, an official told Reuters from London.
A local Darfur government official previously told Reuters an international aid worker had been arrested and was facing charges of gross negligence after the killing.
The state government had opened legal proceedings against CARE.
The official had no further details but added: "At this stage the incident has no implication for our continuing work in Darfur".
Witnesses at the camp said on Friday a man whom camp residents recognised as a member of the Janjaweed had been stabbed and beaten to death there on Thursday.
CARE is responsible for the distribution of a significant proportion of the aid sent to Darfur.
- (Reuters)