U.N. team tours Sudan

AL-FASHIR, Sudan, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Fighting between Sudanese forces and rebel groups has made the humanitarian situation in Darfur worse, a U.N. Security Council team said.

The Security Council sent a team to Sudan on a fact-finding mission ahead of a planned referendum for self-determination for South Sudan.

Susan Rice, the U.S. representative to the United Nations and member of the Security Council team, said during her visit to a camp for the internally displaced that insecurity in the area is a "persistent" problem.

Several foreigners have been kidnapped in Darfur since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes related in part to genocide in the war-torn region of Darfur.

A member of the African Union -- U.N. Hybrid Operation in Darfur and two other mission employees were abducted by gunmen last week. The U.N. mission said in a statement it hasn't received word about the abducted employee.

The council last week wrapped up a mission to South Sudan ahead of the January referendum. The international community is pressing Sudan to work urgently on voting preparations but complain many steps are far behind schedule.

Rice in a message posted on her Twitter account said there was "lots of work" left to do to prepare for the referendum.