An official with the UN agency providing aid to refugees in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region and in neighbouring Chad said Friday that humanitarian workers feared the conflict in western Sudan risked spilling over into Chad. dpa reported. "There has been increased banditry in recent days in Darfur targeting humanitarian workers, including NGOs and the international relief agency Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF)," said Jean-Marie Fakhhouri, director of United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) operations in Sudan and Chad. He said the situation in Darfur was getting worse with the continued raping of women by Arab militia known as janjaweed and bandits harassing international aid workers and attacking settlements for displaced Darfuris in neighbouring Chad. Agencies such as MSF and CARE had been forced to suspend their aid activities, he added. Fakhouri was speaking in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa at a gathering of Western diplomats and international organizations tasked with assessing the situation in Sudan. --More 21 04 Local Time 18 04 GMT
