WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- The Sudanese government is engaged in a brutal campaign against its own people with devastating consequences, a U.S. lawmaker said.
In mid-February, the U.N. Security Council expressed "deep and growing alarm" about food insecurity in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states in Sudan. The crisis there "could reach emergency levels" if it's not addressed.
The council called on Khartoum to allow "immediate access" to the states and urged pro-government groups in the area to cooperate fully with aid organizations.
U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, said in a 16-page field report following his visit to the region the crisis in Sudan is growing more severe.
"If Khartoum persists in barring international access to these regions, there will be devastating consequences," he said in his report.
Wolf said "thousands" of people were streaming across the border into refugee camps setup in South Sudan. Most of the refugees there are women and children, he said, because most of the men have been killed in recent fighting.
"It has become painfully apparent that the government in Khartoum is again engaged in a brutal campaign against its own people in the north, specifically in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, which border South Sudan," he said.
U.N. officials have called for a force of 7,000 peacekeepers for the U.N. mission in South Sudan through 2013.
Both sides signed a non-aggression pact recently, though South Sudan said rival forces from the north pounded the region earlier this month.
