Sudanese masses demonstrate against United Nations intervention in their internal affairs.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire Photo File
Tue 9 Oct 2007, 11:32 GMT
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A Sudanese army air and ground assault killed at least 40 people in the Darfur town of Muhajiriya, where bodies littered the streets amid burned out buildings, rebels who control the area said on Tuesday.
"Until now the number of dead civilians are at least 40, with 80 missing and a large number of injured," the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) said in a statement sent to Reuters.
The SLA faction led by Minni Arcua Minnawi was the only one of three rebel negotiating groups to sign a May 2006 peace deal with Khartoum and became part of the government.
"Bodies are still lying around the town as this statement is written," the statement by SLA Minnawi's military spokesman Mohamed Hamid Dirbeen said.
"Some of the victims looked like they had been executed," it said of the attack on Monday.
AU force commander Martin Luther Agwai, who will also command a 26,000-strong joint U.N.-AU force due to take over from the AU, earlier confirmed a government air attack.
"Yesterday ... I was informed that there was some bombing and military activity in the area of Muhajiriya," he said of the raid which is a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution that banned Khartoum from offensive flying.
Agwai said civilians converged on the nearby AU base for safety. His troops treated about two dozen injured civilians and combatants but did not allow them to enter the base.
Reports from the town said the market and many houses were burnt and a number of civilians and rebels had been killed after army vehicles tore through on Monday.
The Sudanese army was not immediately available to comment.
Muhajiriya, which is home to about 5,000 residents, also hosts more than 44,500 Darfuris displaced by violence elsewhere.
Agwai said it was not yet clear why the fighting began on Monday, but initial reports indicated it could be tribal rivalries or a spillover from government clashes with other rebel factions.
He called for calm ahead of peace talks to begin in Libya on October 27. "It is sad that as we are looking forward to Libya that people have engaged themselves in this activity causing destruction and loss of lives," Agwai said.
Minnawi's group called the attack a "stab in the back of the Darfur peace agreement".
TALKS IN JEOPARDY
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing Khartoum of neglect. Khartoum mobilised militias to quell the revolt, who now stand accused of war crimes. An estimated 200,000 people have died in the violence and 2.5 million have fled their homes.
Khartoum denies the death toll and says the western media is exaggerating the crisis.
Monday's raid was the latest in a series of deadly attacks that threaten to undermine efforts to bring more of Darfur's armed factions into the peace process and make way for the arrival of U.N. and AU troops to take over from 7,000 AU forces who have failed to contain the violence in western Sudan.
On September 29, the AU base in Haskanita was attacked and destroyed, killing 10 peacekeepers. Rebels were suspected of being behind the attack on the AU base.
In the following days, while the government controlled Haskanita, the former rebel-held town was burned to the ground and thousands of residents were sent fleeing.
Suleiman Jamous, respected humanitarian coordinator for the Sudan Liberation Army, said 105 people died when the town was razed by government forces and allied militia.
Analysts said the fact that rebel factions were suspected of attacking the AU Haskanita base gave Khartoum cover for an offensive to garner as much land as possible before the talks.
"The upshot of this strategy, of course, is that it becomes more difficult by the hour for any rebel faction or leader to show up in Sirte, Libya in 19 days," said U.S. academic Eric Reeves.
"Khartoum will of course show up in Gaddafi's home town, and make much of the fact that 'the rebels refuse to negotiate'."
SLA founder Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur has said he will not attend talks until an able U.N. force could protect his people in Darfur. After this week's violence, some rival rebel commanders began to privately concur with his position.
British Minister for Africa Lord Mark Malloch Brown said if rebel leaders do not go to the talks, they abdicate their right to represent the people of Darfur.
"If they opt out, they should understand the consequences of doing that - probably their role in the peace negotiations may be finished," Malloch Brown told the BBC.
At least 45 killed in govt attack on Darfur town
09 Oct 2007 20:39:39 GMT
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Oct 9 (Reuters) - A Sudanese army assault killed at least 45 people in the Darfur town of Muhajiriya, where bodies littered the streets between burned out buildings, forces who control the area said on Tuesday.
"Until now the number of dead civilians are at least 40, with 80 missing and a large number of injured," the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) said in a statement sent to Reuters.
It said five SLA soldiers were killed and eight injured.
The SLA faction led by Minni Arcua Minnawi was the only one of three rebel negotiating groups to sign a May 2006 peace deal with Khartoum and became part of the government.
"Bodies are still lying around the town as this statement is written," SLA Minnawi's military spokesman Mohamed Hamid Dirbeen said. "Some of the victims looked like they had been executed."
Reports from the town said the market and many houses were burnt after army vehicles tore through it on Monday.
AU force commander Martin Luther Agwai, who will also command a 26,000-strong joint U.N.-AU force due to take over from the AU, had earlier said government planes bombed the town.
He later said his troops had mistaken heavy artillery for aerial bombardment and said although Antonov planes were flying overhead during the attack, they had not released bombs.
Rebels, however, say government planes did drop bombs. The Sudanese army was not immediately available to comment.
Some analysts say the recent surge in violence in Darfur is an effort by warring parties to gain land before AU-U.N. mediated peace talks in Libya this month. Others said Khartoum may be trying to drive rebels from the peace process.
Agwai said it was not clear what was behind the fighting in Muhajiriya, but initial reports indicated it could be tribal rivalries or a spillover from other government-rebel clashes.
Minnawi's group called the attack a "stab in the back of the Darfur peace agreement".
One rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army-Unity Leadership (SLA-Unity) threatened to boycott the talks in Libya and said it would "not be bound to any commitment to ceasefire in Darfur" if the Sudanese government "continued its open war".
"STAB IN BACK"
Muhajiriya, which is home to about 5,000 residents, also hosts more than 44,500 Darfuris displaced by violence elsewhere. About 29 international and Sudanese aid workers who had been trapped in the town by the fighting were flown out on Tuesday.
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing Khartoum of neglect. Khartoum mobilised militias to quell the revolt, who now stand accused of war crimes. An estimated 200,000 people have died in the violence and 2.5 million have fled their homes. Khartoum denies the death toll.
Monday's raid was the latest in a series of deadly attacks that threaten to undermine efforts to bring more of Darfur's armed factions into the peace process and make way for the arrival of U.N. and AU troops to take over from 7,000 AU forces.
On Sept. 29, the AU base in Haskanita was attacked and destroyed, killing 10 peacekeepers. Rebels were suspected of being behind the attack on the AU base.
In the following days, while the government controlled Haskanita, the former rebel-held town was burned to the ground and thousands of residents were sent fleeing.
SLA humanitarian coordinator Suleiman Jamous said 105 people died when government forces and allied militia razed the town.
On Tuesday Jamous said Sudanese army and militia were massing in Tine and Kutum, the last main government-held towns before northern rebel territories.
Agwai called for calm ahead of the Oct. 27 peace talks. "It is sad that as we are looking forward to Libya that people have engaged themselves in this activity causing destruction and loss of lives," Agwai said.
Analysts said the fact that rebel factions were suspected of attacking the AU Haskanita base gave Khartoum cover for an offensive to garner as much land as possible before the talks.
"The upshot of this strategy, of course, is that it becomes more difficult by the hour for any rebel faction or leader to show up in Sirte, Libya in 19 days," said U.S. academic Eric Reeves.
"Khartoum will of course show up in Gaddafi's home town, and make much of the fact that 'the rebels refuse to negotiate'."
SLA founder Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur has said he will not attend talks until a U.N. force could protect his people in Darfur. After this week's violence, some rival rebel commanders began to privately concur with his position.
Clashes between allies in Darfur
Fighting has erupted in the Darfuri town of Muhajiriya, controlled by the one rebel faction to sign a peace deal with the government in May last year.
The Sudan Liberation Army faction run by Minni Minnawi came under attack from government troops.
The SLA say dozens have died, and others are being treated for wounds by the African Union peacekeeping force.
Amnesty International says Sudan's Armed Forces are gathering in large numbers in at least six Darfuri towns.
The London-based human rights organisation said it had received credible reports that the Sudanese army was close to the towns of Kornoy, Um Baru, Kutum and Tine in northern Darfur.
A separate report spoke of a clash between soldiers and a rebel group in Tine, which is close to the Chadian border.
The SLA says the fighting comes as "a stab in the back" for their alliance.
Observers say the upsurge in fighting is an attempt to gain ground ahead of the peace talks due to take place in Libya on the 27 October.
The commander of the 7,000-strong African Union force, General Martin Luther Agwai, told the BBC in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, that at least 24 people were injured in the attack on Muhajiriya.
He initially said he believed Sudanese government planes had bombed the town on Monday but, later on, the AU suggested there may not have been any aerial bombing after all.
Minni Minnawi was the only rebel leader to back the failed Darfur peace agreement in Abuja last year. He is now part of the government as special assistant to the president.
The attack on the SLA-controlled town comes just 10 days after the African Union base in nearby Haskanita was raided by armed men, presumed at the time to be rebels.
Ten AU peacekeepers were killed in the raid, while equipment was destroyed or looted.
The BBC's Amber Henshaw in Khartoum says this latest spate of violence does not bode well for the talks.
Talks warning
On Monday the UK warned rebel groups in Darfur they could be excluded from the peace process if they boycotted the Libyan talks.
One key rebel faction says it will not enter peace talks until the promised UN peacekeeping force is deployed.
The Paris-based Abdul Wahid al-Nur faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army told the BBC that Darfur needs the international community to live up to its responsibilities to stop the killing.
The Justice and Equality Movement, one of Darfur's main rebel factions, also said the British threats were not helpful.
UN officials have appealed for helicopters and trucks for the new UN-African Union mission in Darfur to replace the poorly equipped 7,000 AU observers currently deployed.
General Agwai called on the different parties to lay down their arms to try to find a peace agreement.
At least 200,000 people have died in Darfur during a four-year conflict and more than two million have been forced from their homes.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7035528.stm
Published: 2007/10/09 15:32:07 GMT
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