Darfur peace signatories accused of rape, murder

Fighters of the largest Darfur rebel faction, which signed a May peace deal for the western Sudanese region, stand accused of raping and murdering civilians in an offensive against rebel holdouts, the UN reported last week.

Some 4,000 civilians have fled the fighting between the rival factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement in the Tawila area of North Darfur state, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said in a situation report.
Some 650 displaced people, most of them women and children, arrived in the Zam Zam camp alone, the report said, citing the African Union peacekeeping mission in the region.
The displaced were all members of the Fur ethnic group -- the region’s largest -- which provides much of the support for the holdout SLM faction of Abdelwahid al-Nour. Read more >>>