UN reports 'reign of terror' in Sudan's western region

GENEVA -- United Nations human rights investigators have concluded that government troops and Arab militias appear to have launched a "reign of terror" against black Africans in Sudan's western Darfur region.

In a report obtained by a reporter yesterday, the five-member UN team said interviews in neighboring Chad with hundreds of refugees indicated that crimes against humanity had been committed and that many people had been killed.

"According to information collected from the refugees, it appears that there is a reign of terror in Darfur," the report declared. "The patterns of violence point to an intent on the part of the Sudanese authorities to force the population to disperse," said the report, drawn up for the world body's Human Rights Commission but not yet released.

The report cites widespread allegations of rape, pillage, torture, murder, and arson in villages and towns across Darfur. It recommends that the 53-member Commission tell the Sudanese government that it must put in place "measures to ensure that such human rights abuses, war crimes, and crimes against humanity are not repeated in the future."