SLA rebels attack a town in Sudan’s Darfur

Jan 24, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The biggest rebel group in Sudan’s western Darfur region launched an offensive against a government-held town, an African official and aid worker said on Tuesday, coinciding with a move to suspend peace talks.

The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) attacked Golo, a town in the central Jabel Marra region of Darfur that has changed hands several times in the three-year conflict, the sources said.

“The SLA launched an offensive on Golo yesterday. The government reacted,” a senior African Union official said, without giving details.

The AU has about 7,000 troops in Darfur monitoring a ceasefire that has regularly been violated by both side.

An aid worker in Darfur in close contact with the region around Golo also said the SLA had launched an offensive on the town and said several people were injured but said there were no reports of deaths.

Golo has been a focus for tension as it is now in government hands but near hills overlooking the town which are controlled by rebels.

The SLA and another Darfur rebel group said late on Monday they had suspended Darfur peace talks to protest against Sudan’s candidacy as head of the African Union, which is sponsoring the talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

They said they would withdraw from the talks if Sudan became head of the organisation.

African nations picked Congo Republic to head the 53-nation AU instead of Sudan, delegates at an AU summit in Khartoum said on Tuesday. Critics had said a Sudanese presidency would damage the AU’s image.

But Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said Sudan would take over the AU chairmanship in 2007 after Congo’s term ends.

Rebels launched their uprising in 2003 complaining that the government was neglecting their region. About 2 million people have been made homeless in the fighting.

(Reuters)