Nairobi/Khartoum - The joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur UNAMID has slammed the Sudanese government for killing dozens in a refugee camp in the restive province, accusing it of violating the Darfur Peace Agreement.

Sudanese security forces Monday opened fire in the Kalma internally displaced person camp near the capital of South Darfur, Nyala, when it launched what it said was an operation to retrieve a rebel weapon stockpile.

"While the alleged presence of weapons in the Kalma camp is a real security concern for the... authorities, the actions taken to address it are a clear violation of the Darfur Peace Agreement," UNAMID said Tuesday in an unusually critical statement.

"UNAMID strongly condemns the excessive, disproportionate use of lethal force by the GoS (Government of Sudan) security forces against civilians," the statement continued.

UNAMID said that according to information given to a patrol it sent to the camp, 64 were killed and 117 wounded during the attack. The patrol evacuated 49 people to Nyala hospital and said it had seen eleven bodies.

The South Darfur state security committee said police and the military were fired upon from behind a human shield of women and children as they tried to seize the weapons' cache, forcing them to return fire.

It also disputes the high casualty figures.

UNAMID said that the Sudanese forces were heavily armed, while the refugees were carrying only sticks, knives and spears.

Kalma, where between 80,000 and 100,000 people displaced by fighting live, has long been a flashpoint. The Sudanese government claims that rebel supporters are hiding among the refugees, and has previously entered the camp to seize weapons.

The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when black tribesmen took up arms against what they call decades of neglect and discrimination by the Arab-dominated Sudanese government in Khartoum.

The UN says up to 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced by five years of conflict.

A faction of the Sudan Liberation Army and the Sudanese government signed the Darfur Peace Agreement in May 2006, but fighting has continued

Khartoum has been accused of using the Janjaweed militia to commit atrocities against Darfur's black population and suppress the rebels.

The Kalma incident comes at a delicate time, with tensions in Darfur already raised by possible genocide charges against Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in July asked for an arrest warrant against al-Bashir on war crimes charges relating to Darfur.

The rebels support the charges, while Khartoum - which does not recognize the ICC - has dismissed them. (dpa)