The African Union has accused Sudanese government troops of launching new attacks in the troubled western province of Darfur.
The AU said the troops conducted the attacks with Janjaweed militia on Saturday against rebel groups in the area.
It quoted rebels in the area as saying a ground and air offensive killed about 70 people, many of them civilians.
Only two days ago, Sudan agreed to allow the United Nations to help African Union forces maintain peace in Darfur.
Word of new fighting came as the UN humanitarian chief warned the crisis in Darfur could become "infinitely worse" if the agreement is not implemented quickly.
"We are playing with a powder keg," Jan Egeland told reporters in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Saturday.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced by three years of fighting in the vast, arid Darfur region.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and his AU counterpart, Alpha Oumar Konare, reached an agreement with Sudanese envoys Thursday for a mixed UN-AU force of 20,000 peacekeepers.
But Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol said his government had not committed to a mixed peacekeeping mission. He said the UN would simply provide technical support.
source: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/11/18/sudan.html
The AU said the troops conducted the attacks with Janjaweed militia on Saturday against rebel groups in the area.
It quoted rebels in the area as saying a ground and air offensive killed about 70 people, many of them civilians.
Only two days ago, Sudan agreed to allow the United Nations to help African Union forces maintain peace in Darfur.
Word of new fighting came as the UN humanitarian chief warned the crisis in Darfur could become "infinitely worse" if the agreement is not implemented quickly.
"We are playing with a powder keg," Jan Egeland told reporters in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Saturday.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced by three years of fighting in the vast, arid Darfur region.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and his AU counterpart, Alpha Oumar Konare, reached an agreement with Sudanese envoys Thursday for a mixed UN-AU force of 20,000 peacekeepers.
But Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol said his government had not committed to a mixed peacekeeping mission. He said the UN would simply provide technical support.
source: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/11/18/sudan.html