Note #9094 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06052 Feb. 3, 2006
African church leaders call Darfur violence 'inexcusable'
by Fredrick Nzwili Ecumenical News International
NAIROBI - The All Africa Conference of Churches has expressed concern over escalating violence in the Darfur region in western Sudan, where renewed fighting is forcing aid workers to flee.
"As Africans and Christians, we are appalled by the reports of random, indiscriminate killings, especially since ethnic and religious hatred is reported to be at the root of (the) aggression," said the Rev. Mvume Dandala, the leader of the African church group.
Dandala, a Methodist from South Africa, issued a statement on Jan. 31describing the continued violence as "inexcusable" and expressing desire for a peaceful settlement.
On Jan. 30, Action by Churches Together-Caritas, an alliance of Protestant, Roman Catholic and Christian Orthodox relief agencies across the globe, reported that armed militias have driven more than 55,000 people from their homes in southern Darfur.
Gillian Sandford, a communicator for ACT-Caritas, reported: "Gunmen on camels and horses prompted the mass exodus after shooting and looting in the camps and the town of Mershing. ... Now tens of thousands of families huddle on exposed ground in the nearby town of Manawashi - with dwindling stocks of food and little shelter."
Much of the fighting is reported around Golo and Daya in the Jebel Marra area in West Darfur, according to the United Nations Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN).
"Humanitarian agencies have been reducing their staff in West Darfur State in the past month due to rising tension in the area," Andy Pendleton, the U.N. humanitarian-affairs coordinator for the area, said on Jan. 27.
The African Union, which has peacekeeping troops in Darfur, said on Jan. 29 that the renewed violence may jeopardize the entire peace process.
Two rebel groups, the Justice for Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army, took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in 2003 after years of neglect and oppression of mainly black inhabitants in Darfur, a semi-desert region the size of France.
Humanitarian agencies say the war has resulted in the deaths of 300,000 people and the displacement of more than 2 million.
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