Aid workers fled into bush areas Monday to escape fierce clashes in Sudan's Darfur region before being rescued by an African Union helicopter and flown to safety, U.N. and aid agency officials said. Kate Haiff, Sudan country director for Save The Children, UK, said 20 workers for her organization and some other people were airlifted from the Tawilla area, in North Darfur state, where fighting between rebels and Arab militia has raged since Sunday. | You must be mistaken Kate. The UN fixed this last week, didn't you get the memo? |
"Our staff have been evacuated by helicopter and are arriving in (North Darfur's capital of) Al-Fasher," Haiff said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press in Egypt. U.N. spokesman in Khartoum, George Somerwill, said 45 people were airlifted to safety by an African Union helicopter after fleeing fighting Monday in Tawilla. "They ran into the bush while there was fighting and were rescued by an African Union helicopter," Somerwill told the AP. Somerwill said a tribal dispute over livestock sparked the clashes and resulted in rebel South Liberation Army forces attacking government-allied Arab militia known as the Janjaweed. African Union monitors said six civilians were killed during the clashes, which followed a cease-fire deal signed between rebels and the Sudanese government on Nov. 9 in Nigeria. | Lasted a week and a half, not bad by African standards |
|