Sudan bombs Darfur rebel areas – AU
Dec 31, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan has bombed Darfur rebel areas, a day after African Union officials visited the insurgents and secured their commitment to a ceasefire, an AU statement said on Sunday.
Luke Aprezi commands a 7,000-strong African Union force in Darfur which, hampered by lack of equipment and funds, has struggled to stem the violence in remote west Sudan. The fighting has driven 2.5 million people from their homes and killed an estimated 200,000.
“For the first time I visited them (rebels) in the field in Um Rai (North Darfur) … and I was able to get a ceasefire commitment from them,” Aprezi told Reuters. The meeting was held two days ago and he notified the government of it, he said.
“Unfortunately (Sudan’s army) went and bombed the area and it looks like I led them to the area to get bombed,” he said.
A May peace deal was signed by only one of three negotiating rebel factions. Many groups rejected it, formed a new military alliance and renewed hostilities with the government.
One Darfur rebel faction confirmed there had been bombing attacks in North Darfur in the past two days. A government army spokesman said there was no confirmation of this in Khartoum.
“Darfur commanders cannot undertake bombing operations without the knowledge of central command in Khartoum,” the spokesman told Reuters. “But we in central command are completely committed to the ceasefire.”
Aprezi could not confirm that the ceasefire he had secured with the rebels would still stand.
“I hope that this statement will give them confidence and they still keep it up,” he said. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir says the Darfur ceasefire does not apply to the new rebel alliance which was formed after the May deal was signed.
The escalation in fighting since May has threatened the aid operation in Darfur, the world’s largest, and led to the evacuation of hundreds of humanitarian workers.
U.N. and AU officials confirm that the new rebel alliance has inflicted heavy losses on the Sudanese armed forces, and say this has prompted Khartoum to remobilise militias, known locally as Janjaweed, to protect their bases.
The mostly non-Arab rebels in Darfur took up arms in early 2003, accusing the central government of neglect. The United States has said the way the government tried to crush the rebellion was genocidal, a charge Khartoum rejects. The International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes in the region.
(Reuters)