The Sudanese military has carried out air strikes in conflict-stricken Darfur and on Tuesday stopped UN peacekeepers trying to get to the region, UN officials said.
The Sudanese government also restricted the movements of UN and private aid groups operating in south Darfur, part of a region where the United Nations says at least 300,000 people have died since an uprising erupted in 2003.
Sudanese warplanes on Sunday bombed the town of Labado and the village of Esheraya in southern Darfur, the UN mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said in a statement.
The UN said casualty numbers could not be given as the mission had not been given access to the Labado region.
UNAMID teams attempting to Labado and Esheraya regions “were not allowed access today by government forces due to security concerns,” said a UNAMID statement.
Ibrahim Gambari, the UNAMID head, expressed concern over the air strikes. “I call upon all parties to exercise the utmost restraint in the use of lethal force,” he said.
Non-government groups and UN agencies operating in south Sudan were told Tuesday by the Sudanese government that they would be limited to a zone of 15 kilometers (10 miles) around the town of Nyala, UNAMID said.
At least 300,000 people have been killed and 1.8 million people fled their homes since the Darfur conflict erupted in 2003 between rebels and the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime, the United Nations says. The government puts the death toll at 10,000.
