EU concerned over increased violence in Darfur

The European Union (EU) on Wednesday told Sudanese President Umar Hasan al-Bashir that it was concerned over increased violence in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, Bart Jochems, a spokesman for the Dutch foreign minister whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, said. Jochems told IRIN Foreign Minister Bernard Bot met the president in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and also held meetings with Manuel Da Silva, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, and Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail. Before arriving in Sudan, Bot had told journalists in Luxembourg on Monday that the situation in Darfur had remained "mixed", the French news agency AFP, reported. "The Sudanese government should continue to feel the pressure from as many sides as possible," Bot was quoted as saying. According to humanitarian workers, the security situation in Darfur has further deteriorated, with increased violence driving an additional 220,000 people from their homes in August. The humanitarian sources said they expected the number of displaced people to rise further in the near future. On Sunday, two relief workers employed by Save the Children UK were killed in Darfur when their vehicle hit an anti-tank landmine. The two, one British and one Sudanese, were travelling in the Um Barro area of North Darfur State when their vehicle struck the mine. Last week, Jan Pronk, UN special envoy to Sudan, said there had been no systematic improvement of security for people living in Darfur, adding that frequent attacks by armed militias had continued alongside breaches of the ceasefire by both the Sudanese government and the rebel groups. In a briefing to the UN Security Council in New York, Pronk said there had also been an alarming rise in armed banditry. He said that while Khartoum had not reversed the gains it had achieved in August, "there was no systematic improvement of people's security and no progress on ending impunity". The humanitarian agency CARE on 4 October also said that insecurity was worsening in strife-torn Darfur, and warned that those displaced by the conflict would not be able to return to their homes in the near future unless security was restored. CARE said fighting between government and rebel forces had intensified in September and that cases of banditry had increased. Insecurity had forced more people to flee their homes, causing a continued influx of people into camps in South Darfur State in particular. The conflict in Darfur between the Sudanese military supported by Janjawid militias said to be allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end alleged marginalisation and discrimination of Darfur residents by the state, erupted early last year. It has displaced about 1.45 million people and sent another 200,000 fleeing across the border into Chad. The UN has called the crisis one of the world's current worst humanitarian crises.