Aid workers flee Darfur violence

Thousands have died in terrible conditions across Darfur

Aid workers in Sudan's Darfur region have been airlifted to safety amid new fighting between government and rebel troops in a major town.

At least 30 local employees of Save the Children were rescued by African Union helicopter, the organisation said.

The UN said 45 people in all were airlifted out of Tawilla, a town on a key supply route in northern Darfur.

The fighting in Darfur came despite a recent African Union-backed agreement with the rebels to end the conflict.

African Union monitors in the area said six civilians had died in the fighting.

Truce 'ignored'

Save the Children said Sudanese government warplanes had bombed positions 50 metres from the charity's feeding centres, a claim that could not be independently verified.

Q&A: Darfur crisis

The aid workers were evacuated to the town of al-Fashir, capital of northern Darfur, a Save the Children spokeswoman said.

Fighting broke out on Sunday in Tawilla, where at least 30,000 refugees have fled to avoid attacks by government-backed Arab militias.

Violence in the town continued into Monday, the Associated Press reported.

"Both sides have demonstrated utter disregard for the ceasefire," said Toby Porter, director of emergencies at Save the Children.

"Yet again innocent civilians, particularly women and children, are suffering at the hands of the rebels and their own government, and still the international community fails to protect them."

Troop plan

The renewed violence came as the UN confirmed plans to deploy up to 7,000 peacekeeping troops in Sudan.

Troops will be deployed when a peace agreement has been finalised to end the Darfur conflict and a 21-year-old civil war in southern Sudan.

At least 1.5 million people have left their homes in Darfur and around 70,000 are believed to have died in the conflict.

The civil war in the south is estimated to have killed two million people since it began.

On a visit to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, UN envoy Jan Pronk said troops would be deployed within 30 days of a peace deal being signed.

Despite new pledges by the UN, aid agency Oxfam on Monday called for the European Union to intervene in Sudan, claiming the UN had not acted firmly enough to prevent further violence.

Oxfam said security within Darfur had deteriorated over the past two weeks, with several towns now only accessible by helicopter because of increased danger on the roads, and it called on the EU to force warring parties to protect the people of Darfur.

In another development, the UN World Food Programme announced that food aid from the United States was being delivered through Libya to refugee camps in eastern Chad.

A convoy has begun a 3,000 mile journey across the Sahara from the Libyan port of Benghazi, the WFP said.