Tension high in North Darfur capital after deadly attack

Dec 5, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Tension was running high in the Darfur town of Al-Fasher, a day after at least two people were killed in an attack by pro-government militia, the former rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) has said.

“The situation is very tense due to the presence in and around the town of the Janjaweed but there has been no fresh fighting,” SLM official Ahmed Abdallah said Tuesday.

The African Union mission (AMIS) currently operating in Darfur also described the situation as “very tense”.

“AMIS intervened very quickly Monday to put an end to the clashes and its vehicles transported five members of the SLM who were seriously wounded to our hospital,” said AMIS spokesman Nourredine Mezni.

“On Tuesday we received information of a possible attack on our headquarters by armed elements who did not sign the peace deal,” he said of the pro-government militia.

“We strongly warn against any attacks,” he said.

AMIS finds “very regrettable this violation of the ceasefire at a time when the African Union is trying to consolidate the peace deal and to bring in other parties”, he said.

The UN has withdrawn staff from Al-Fasher, sources in Darfur said.

SLM leader Minni Minawi told reporters on Monday that what he described as well-armed men from the pro-government Janjaweed militia attacked the cattle market in Al-Fasher.

The largest city in Sudan’s troubled western region of Darfur, Al-Fasher is also the main base for African Union (AU) observers and has a large population of people displaced by the almost four-year-old conflict.

Minawi said Monday’s attack was a serious breach of the peace deal he signed with Khartoum in May and said it threatened his former rebel movement’s participation in the government.

Sudanese authorities played down the latest violence and said it was the result of tensions between local merchants and a group of military intelligence officers who had come to purchase goods from the market.

(AFP)