INTERVIEW-Violence against Darfur women worsens - rights chief
By Kamilo Tafeng

May 4, 2006 -(Reuters) Sexual violence against women in Darfur is worsening amid a general deterioration in security and human rights in Sudan's vast west, the top U.N. human rights official said after touring the region.

"The situation (in Darfur) is poor, bad and very alarming and what is particularly sad is to see no progress and a deterioration of the situation," said Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

"I am absolutely persuaded that the sexual violence against women ... is worsening every day," Arbour told Reuters in an interview in Khartoum on Wednesday.

She said the attacks were carried out by men riding horses and camels when women left the camp for firewood, and added that the presence of government security forces in the camps had created an "atmosphere of fear and distrust".

Arbour visited Nyala and el-Geneina in Darfur during her two-day visit, speaking to local officials and non-governmental organisations.

It was her first trip to Darfur since September 2004 and came as negotiators struggled to persuade the Sudanese government and rebels to accept a peace deal to end the fighting that has caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The U.N. World Food Programme said last week many donor countries appeared to have tired of the conflict in Darfur, which has killed tens of thousands and driven more than 2 million from their homes since it erupted in 2003.

"The level of humanitarian assistance that is available in the camps is declining and it needs immediate rescue," Arbour said.

WFP said it will cut food rations for more than 6 million people in Sudan, half of them in Darfur, due to a severe lack of funds.

Darfur rebels took up arms in the ethnically mixed region, which is the size of France, complaining of marginalisation and neglect by the Arab-dominated central government.

The Khartoum government tried to crush the Darfur rebellion by using militias drawn from Arab tribes. Rebels and rights groups have accused the militias of looting, arson and rape.

From: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L04481954.htm