Forcible displacement, rape, killings reported

Military efforts to stop the latest violence in west Darfur have failed so far and a helicopter brought in to respond to the situation was shot at several times, the report said. Nomadic tribesmen were coming in from other areas of Darfur to participate in the conflict, it said, adding that the nomads were allegedly engaged in the forcible displacement of farming communities from their land by violent means, including killing, rape and the burning of villages. Farmers told of their villages being surrounded by hundreds of horsemen, of huts being set on fire and residents, particularly adolescent boys, being shot. If violence continues, the result would be a “humanitarian disaster of considerable proportions”, the report said.