The US has issued a damning human rights report on Sudan, saying genocide in Darfur continued and blaming both government and rebel forces for attacks in the remote region.
It said there was widespread impunity for crimes including torture and that thousands more people had been killed by government forces and its allied militias, known locally as Janjaweed, in Darfur in 2006.
"Genocide continued to ravage the Darfur region of Sudan," the report released today said. "The Sudanese government and government-backed Janjaweed militia bear the responsibility for the genocide in Darfur and all parties to the conflagration committed serious abuses."
Khartoum denies genocide and blames the Western media for exaggerating the four-year-old Darfur conflict. European governments are reluctant to use the term.
The International Criminal Court said last week it had reason to believe war crimes had been committed in Darfur by a junior government minister and a pro-government militia leader.
"During the year, the government resumed aerial bombardment of civilian targets, including homes, school and markets," the US report said.
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has admitted bombing Darfur, but says his forces targeted rebel bases in self-defence.
The report outlined details of several torture cases by government authorities throughout the country and of rape and gang rape in Darfur. It said there were few attempts to prosecute those responsible.
But the report also severely reprimanded Darfur rebel forces for rights abuses in 2006, criticism normally reserved for government forces and militias.
Yesterday, the African Union force monitoring a shaky Darfur ceasefire said soldiers from former Darfur rebel Minni Arcua Minnawi's Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) killed two peacekeepers and critically injured a third in the rebel controlled town of Gereida.
Minnawi was the only one of three negotiating rebel factions to sign a May 2006 peace deal.