Government attacks intensify in Darfur

Noureddine Mezni, spokesman for the AU mission, said his monitoring force did not have the resources to police the accord. "It's not easy to create buffer zones between rebel-held and government territory, to deploy around camps, or to use aircraft to patrol the area," he says.

Last week, the UN Security Council voted to take over and expand the peacekeeping effort. But the plan has been rejected repeatedly by the Sudanese government.

Sudan's president, Omar Al-Bashir, has vowed to fight off UN troops himself, and warned that Sudan would take on international soldiers "as Hizbullah beat Israeli forces." His ministers have also stepped up pressure on the AU, warning that AU troops can stay beyond September only if they drop plans to hand over their operation to the UN.

Mr. Prendergast said the diplomatic maneuvering was designed to distract from Darfur operations.

"Their strategy is pacification, and that means zero tolerance of rebels and zero tolerance pretty much of international witnesses," he says. "That's why we have seen arrests of journalists and growing insecurity for aid workers."

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson traveled to Sudan yesterday to seek the release of Paul Salopek, an American writer for National Geographic and The Chicago Tribune. He is to appear in court Sunday, charged with espionage, entering without a visa, and writing "false news."

A Canadian Broadcasting Corp. camera crew was assaulted at their hotel entrance in Khartoum on Wednesday by plainclothes police, as protests unfolded in the city. Reporters and aid workers arriving at the airport say their laptops have been seized and scanned for incriminating material.

The AU says that it does not have the resources to stay in Darfur beyond Sept. 30. But African foreign ministers are to meet in New York this month, concurrently with the UN Security Council, raising hopes that they may seek to renew the mandate.

On Wednesday, Sean McCormack, State Department spokesman, said US officials were in close contact with their African counterparts. "They are going to have to make some crucial decisions about their force in Darfur," he said. "We are confident that there will not be a vacuum, one way or the other, in Darfur...."

Many aid workers have already reduced operations following an upsurge in attacks. Eight were killed during July alone, and an International Rescue Committee nurse died amid fighting last Friday in Hashaba, about 70 miles north of El Fasher.

Mark Blackett, country director of the Irish charity Goal, said everyone was pinning hopes on a deal to sustain AU protection. "If we are proved wrong, that is a serious problem. I can see many agencies, including ourselves, having to pull out if the AU itself withdraws," he said by phone from Khartoum.

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