Conscience International, a human rights organisation based in the Gambia, in conjunction with the Darfur Consortium, which is a coalition of over 50 organisations in Africa, has strongly urged the international community to provide logistic support to the people of Darfur, especially to the Unamid Forces in the troubled region of Darfur, as well as to create the enabling environment for dialogue.

The two human rights organisations also stressed the need for the protection of innocent lives of women, children, as well as the men who were trapped in the crisis.

This call for doubling of efforts on the part of the international community was made on last Sunday, during a press briefing organised by the aforementioned human rights organisations at their headquarters in Fajara.

However, the two human rights bodies also recommended that the Sudanese Government should protect the people of Darfur and the country at large so as to guarantee and ensure the safety and security of the international forces, as well as human rights workers in the troubled region. While they further called on the Sudanese government to comply with the Security Council's resolutions, the human rights organisations seized the opportunity to stress that all concerned groups to the Darfur crisis must respect the independence of the International Criminal Court, and the integrity of its organs and procedures.

Presenting a paper on the current situation in Darfur, Mr Shaka Ceesay, the director of the Conscience International, said violence has increased in recent months in Darfur, and that access for humanitarian agencies has become more difficult. He noted that international peacekeeping has not yet been effective, adding that a political settlement remains far off.

According to him, major aerial bombardments and ground attacks were launched by the government in Western Dafur early this year, adding that an assault on Khartoum by the Justice and Equality Movement rebels in mid-may, this year, has left atleast 200 people dead.''Meanwhile, the ruling National Congress Party in Khartoum continues to deny the gravity of the situation and is pursuing destructive policies in Darfur, while at the same time resisting key provisions in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the North-South war. The NCP wants Darfur in chaos as to limit room for an opposition to emerge,'' the human rights advocates said.

According to him, the Unamid forces, who were deployed in Dafur on December 31, last year, are still not in full operational as they continue to face unbearable constraints such as staff shortage, lack of logistics necessary to their operation.

The Conscience International director then stressed the needs for the international community to give unprecedented support to Sudan, saying that the current situation in Darfur is disheartening. He stressed that the tough sanctions must be imposed on the parties that seem to be non-compliance, as well as on those that obstruct the peace process or violated the international humanitarian law.

Djibril Baldeh, Coordinator of the Darfur Consortium for West Africa, and Musa Sheriff, Coordinator of Network of Human Rights Journalists amplified the called for more aid to the people of Sudan.