UN evacuates non-essential staff from biggest city in Sudan's Darfur

The United Nations has evacuated non-essential staff of its own and other agencies from al-Fashir, the biggest city of the western Sudanese region of Darfur, the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) announced in a statement on Wednesday.

"Non-essential staff of the United Nations and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) was temporarily relocated on Tuesday evening from al-Fashir to Khartoum," the statement said.

A total of 134 people, including 82 from the UN, were evacuated, it said.

"The decision was prompted by heightened security concerns in al-Fashir as a result of increased Janjaweed presence in the city and armed movements in the area," the statement stressed.

Janjaweed is the nickname of local armed Arab militia usually riding horses and camels in Darfur, who have been repeatedly accused by African inhabitant tribes in the region of looting their villages and burning their houses.

On Monday, clashes erupted in al-Fashir between the Janjaweed militia and soldiers of the Sudan Liberation Movement, the former rebel group which signed a peace accord with the Sudanese government in May, killing and wounding several people on both sides.

According to information received from al-Fashir, gunshots were heard from late Tuesday until Wednesday morning, and local residents demonstrated in the morning to protest against the Monday fighting.

"The current situation is reported to be calm but tense. Few people are out in the streets and shops are closed. Heavy government security is deployed in the city," the UNMIS statement said.

Source: Xinhua