Insecurity Doubled for Darfur Aid Groups Last Year
Carjackings and robberies drove a doubling of security incidents involving foreign aid groups in Sudan's war-torn Darfur last year, U.N. data show, reflecting the worsening unrest there during 2013.
The data, obtained by AFP, show there were 66 incidents in total -- ranging from threats to break-ins and killings -- which was up from 31 for 2012.
The most common crime was robbery, with 21 cases of armed theft from offices or other facilities belonging to relief agencies, compared to just seven in 2012.
After robberies the most common crime was carjacking, with 12 armed thefts of vehicles from foreign aid groups last year in Darfur, up from six carjackings in 2012.
The data confirm that three local workers for overseas relief agencies were killed in Darfur last year. None were killed in 2012.
Mohamed Ibn Chambas, head of the African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID), told reporters in January that Darfur's insecurity worsened last year, claiming the lives of 16 peacekeepers and displacing 350,000 people or more.
Ethnic rebels continued a 10-year war with the government, but there was also "a steep escalation of tribal conflicts," Chambas said, as well as "an increased wave of criminality and banditry."
Most of the "tribal" conflicts pitted Arab militias against each other.
Analysts say Sudan's cash-starved government can no longer control its former Arab tribal allies, whom it armed against the rebellion, and violent competition for resources has intensified.
Source: Agence France Presse
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