KHARTOUM, Sudan — British Foreign Minister Jack Straw spoke to fearful victims of violence sheltering at the Abu Shouk camp in the Sudanese region of Darfur on Tuesday, and later said atrocities continued in the western area.
Straw's visit came as Amnesty International reported that government bombing raids and attacks by militias continued to afflict villagers in Darfur.
The London-based organization accused the Sudanese government of arresting and intimidating displaced people and others who spoke out to foreign observers about the crisis there.
The foreign minister's visit, designed to increase the pressure on the Sudanese government, came days before a report to the U.N. Security Council on what progress Khartoum has made in disarming the Arab militias responsible for the violence and in improving security in Darfur, an area larger than California.
International sanctions and punitive measures are seen as unlikely, but given the poor progress on security, Sudan faces intense international pressure to accept several thousand additional African Union troops and cease-fire monitors, a measure seen by Western diplomats here in the Sudanese capital as a positive step.
"What I understand is that there has not been aerial bombardment since the end of June, that the cease-fire as a formal cease-fire is broadly holding, but that atrocities have continued," Straw said at a Khartoum news conference.
He said that people felt safe within the camps but that it was imperative to improve security outside.
"It's palpable the fear people have, about the way people feel they were driven from their homes and the fear people have about going back to their homes and returning to their livelihoods," he said.
The bombardments and helicopter attacks earlier this year focused international concerns that the violence against civilians was being carried out by the Sudanese military in concert with the Arab militias. Amnesty International's report, released early today, said bombings were still occurring.
The violence has left an estimated 30,000 people dead and forced more than 1.2 million to flee their homes. Straw said that no one group was to blame for the killings and atrocities, but that the government had to take the heaviest responsibility because it held power.
After visiting the refugee camp, Straw met with Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, and later with humanitarian workers.
