Sudanese army surrounds Darfur refugee camps

THE Sudanese army and police have surrounded refugee camps in the war- torn region of Darfur and denied access to humanitarian groups, the UN said yesterday.

“It started at 3am without warning. Agencies have been denied access to these camps since this morning,” said Christiane Berthiaume, spokeswoman for the World Food Programme (WFP).

At least 160,000 refugees in western Darfur cannot be reached by road “because of insecurity”, she added.