The narrow, dusty alleyways and cramped stick-built huts once offered a haven to the people of Darfur as they fled a conflict that has claimed more than 200,000 lives.

Then the women found themselves prisoners in Abu Shouk aid camp, unable to venture out for firewood or water for fear of being harassed, raped or murdered.

Now not even the camp is safe. Tribes loyal to the Khartoum Government are being supplied with arms and ammunition in a cynical ploy to force out opponents of the regime, according to aid officials familiar with Abu Shouk.

The same pattern is being repeated throughout Darfur. Kalma and Gereida in southern Darfur are virtual no-go areas for the international charities that try to keep lifelines open to more than two million people with no other support.

Aid agencies have been warned to scale back their operations in three camps around the northern Darfur capital of el-Fasher. United Nations security officials gave warning that Abu Shouk, Zam Zam and al-Salaam had become tinderboxes.

People such as Fatima Adam Yaoub, who fled her home almost four years ago, have no choice but to stay. “We live in fear because there is no security. In the evening – after 8 – no one will be outside their house. It is too dangerous,” the 52-year-old mother of ten said.

She knows two women who were raped during the visit of Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, this month. Aid officials say that the number of guns has increased since he came to Abu Shouk, where 47,000 people live in increasing squalor.

It has long been known that rebel groups were using camps to hide weapons. With guns now being provided to government supporters, the result is increasing insecurity.

Gunshots provide a nighttime soundtrack. An aid vehicle was hijacked on its way into the camp by gunmen who pulled AK47s from a hay cart.

Last week two men from the Fur tribe – who predominantly support the rebel Sudan Liberation Army – were shot by unknown gunmen inside the camp. And incidents of homes being set alight are on the increase.

“The Government is providing guns to two tribes here and causes many problems,” Mrs Yaoub added. “The Government says it’s a tribal problem but they are the ones causing it.”

Arms flow into the camp and into the hands of the Gimir and Kinnen tribes, according to United Nations sources. Both are fiercely pro-government. Both describe themselves as Arab, and many Gimir, in particular, have fought among government forces as they tried to put down a rebel uprising in Darfur.

The arms are arriving at a time when President el-Bashir is promising a ceasefire before peace talks in Tripoli next month. At the same time local radio stations have been broadcasting lists of names asking them to leave the sprawling humanitarian camps.

Salah Bakhour, one of the Furumdas (tribal leaders) in Abu Shouk, said that his people were under constant pressure to leave the camp.

“They tell us that they want us to leave by October, and they are giving guns to the other tribes. Shootings are happening every day and every night,” he said. “I cannot protect my people any more.”

The claims are confirmed by aid officials working in the region. Few can speak publicly. Aid agencies face expulsion if they are accused by the Government of helping journalists or acting politically.

One aid official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the Government believed that the 150,000 people living in the camps around el-Fasher provided a reservoir of opposition. “So they are strengthening the old tribal divisions that already exist, trying to cause division and tension within the camps, and to force people to go home,” he said.

Kosti Manibe, the Sudanese Humanitarian Affairs Minister, said he was aware that many camps were riddled with guns and promised to look into reports that certain tribes were being armed to create instability.

“People come to the camps because they felt unsafe so it is vital that they can remain there,” he said.

Times Recommends

• No cause for celebration in crushed Sarajevo
• Jazz funeral for the final victims of Katrina
• French fined for 'insulting' civil servants