Arab Janjaweed militia continued to rape women and girls in Sudan 's Darfur region last month while authorities forcibly moved refugees, the United Nations reported today.
The information was collected from refugees by 16 UN human rights monitors deployed in the three Darfur states.
UN human rights spokesman Mr Jose Luis Diaz
"They are reporting that sexual violence and rape continue to be reported in all three of the regions of Darfur," UN human rights spokesman Mr Jose Luis Diaz told a news briefing.
The rapes had contributed to a huge sense of insecurity among many of the 1.6 million people driven from their homes since the violence began in 2003.
"Women and girls are afraid to leave the camps," Mr Diaz said. There was also an escalation during November in forced relocations in South Darfur, according to the UN spokesman.
After years of skirmishes between Arab nomads and mostly non-Arab farmers over scarce resources in arid Darfur, rebels took up arms early last year accusing the government of neglect and of arming Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, to loot and burn non-Arab villages.
Khartoum admits arming some militias to fight the rebels but denies any links to the Janjaweed, calling them outlaws.
It said early last month it had not violated any international law or agreements by moving camps for people who fled their homes, and did not rule out repeating the move.