Rebels in Darfur camps endanger refugees

OURE CASSONI, Sudan, July 7 (UPI) -- Darfuri refugees are at risk because armed Sudanese rebels are in their camps, United Nations aid workers say.

The BBC said its correspondent saw fighters of the Justice and Equality Movement armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s openly driving through the Oure Cassoni camp for Darfur's refugees. Humanitarian workers said that could bring reprisals from Khartoum.

"We cannot provide assistance (unless) in a neutral environment -- the capacity to ensure its civilian and humanitarian nature is just not there," Serge Male, the U.N. refugee agency's outgoing representative in Chad, told the British broadcaster.

Sudanese warplanes reportedly dropped bombs near the camp last month, believed to be retaliation for JEM taking over the Darfuri towns of Kornoi and Um Baru in May. The bombing killed two people and numerous animals.

"We heard the bombing and saw huge clouds of smoke," refugee Izadine Kashir told the BBC. "Everyone panicked and the women went running out of the camp to get the children."