New Violence Hinders Relief Efforts in Western Sudan

Even as peace talks continued in an effort to stanch the suffering in western Sudan, kidnappings, land mines and, most recently, a government crackdown on a camp for displaced people, have created new pockets of no-go areas on the ground and made it impossible to deliver relief to tens of thousands of Sudanese, aid groups said.The latest trouble came early Tuesday when, officials with the World Food Program said, the Sudanese military and police surrounded two camps in the state of Southern Darfur, used tear gas to disperse crowds and began forcibly moving some people from the camps. Barry Came, a World Food Program spokesman in Khartoum, said in a telephone interview that government officials had told the United Nations agency that the crackdown was aimed at local people who infiltrated the camps to collect food rations meant for those who were displaced from their homes.Full Story