More than 20 Hurt, including 8 Shot, at Darfur Demo

More than 20 people were injured, eight of them by gunshots, when Sudanese police allegedly opened fire on demonstrators in Sudan's Darfur region, peacekeepers said Tuesday, raising an earlier toll.

The African Union-U.N. Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) could not confirm that two people died in Monday's incident involving residents of the Hamadiya camp for displaced people just outside Zalingei, the capital of Central Darfur state.

Al-Shafir Mohammed, an activist among the displaced, told Agence France Presse that two people were killed and 29 hurt as "thousands" demonstrated.

"It looks like more than 20 people were injured and eight of them had bullet injuries," a UNAMID public information officer told AFP.

"The mission is trying to verify reports that two people were killed."

UNAMID on Monday said it had received initial reports of only two injuries.

The protesters are among almost two million people who the United Nations says are displaced in Darfur, from an 11-year-old war between the government and rebels, as well as from inter-Arab communal fighting which worsened last year.

The protesters objected to a conference organised by the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA) that brought together various groups in an effort to end tribal conflicts and promote peace in the region.

The DRA is a Darfur-wide government body set up to implement a limited peace deal in the region.

Major rebel groups did not sign the pact, and Darfur's camps for the displaced are highly politicized.

Police could not be reached for comment.