UNITED NATIONS, April 27 (UPI) -- Continuing and escalating violence in the Darfur region of Sudan is a growing concern for members of the U.N. Security Council, a U.S. ambassador said.
A patrol unit with the U.N. Assistance Mission in Darfur was attacked by unknown gunmen last week. The attack came as South Sudanese and Sudanese forces exchanged gunfire near their disputed borders.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said, following a closed-door session on Darfur, that member states were concerned about the security situation there.
"They expressed concern about the continuing instability and escalating violence in Darfur and the humanitarian conditions," she said.
Amnesty International, in a report published this week, described how the supply of weapons to Sudan from Belarus, China and Russia allowed the Sudanese government to carry out various atrocities in the region.
"In the last 12 months, as other developments in Sudan overshadowed international attention on Darfur, the region has seen a new wave of fighting between armed opposition groups and government forces, including government backed militias," the report read.
U.N. Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous, however, was quoted by Voice of America as saying the United Nations could trim its peacekeeping force in Darfur because of "improvements in security" in the area.
