WASHINGTON, April 2 (UPI) -- The United States warned Sudan Friday to stop government sponsored militias from attacking civilians in western Darfur province.
"It's clear to us that government-supported militia groups ... are continuing to burn villages and kill and abuse civilians," said State Department's deputy spokesman Adam Ereli. "There is a massive humanitarian crisis going on there."
The United Nations Security Council also called for a cease fire Friday in the Darfur region and a senior U.N. official told a briefing in New York that a coordinated, "scorched-earth" campaign of ethnic cleansing was taking place there.
U.N. agencies estimate some 750,000 Sudanese have become internally displaced in Darfur since fighting erupted early last year between the Sudanese government, allied militias and rebel groups. Another 110,000 people have fled into neighboring Chad.
Ereli told a briefing in Washington that the United States condemns "the atrocities ... in Darfur in the strongest terms and (urges) the government to take immediate steps to stop the militias and to allow outside monitoring of the situation there."
