Darfur rebels say govt attacks as peace envoys visit
Feb 13, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Government forces have attacked Darfur rebel positions ahead of a critical meeting between rebel leaders and African Union and U.N. envoys trying to revive a stalled peace process, rebels said on Tuesday.
“There was an attack from the Janjaweed and government of Sudan early in the morning on the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and on civilians,” said Osman al-Bushra, a rebel commander in Darfur. “They took livestock and killed civilians,” he added.
The civilian deaths could not be immediately confirmed.
A Sudanese army spokesman in Khartoum said he had not been informed of any operations in the past few days in the area.
AU envoy Salim Ahmed Salim and U.N. envoy Jan Eliasson plan to travel to Darfur on Wednesday to meet rebel leaders and urge them to form a more unified position to allow peace talks to resume.
A May 2006 peace deal was signed by only one of three rebel negotiating factions and a new rebel coalition has since renewed hostilities with Khartoum.
The rebel conference has been delayed many times, twice because of government bombardment, but Darfur rebel commander Jar el-Neby said commanders had begun to arrive from all over Darfur and the meeting should begin on February 19.
The army spokesman denied any operations in Fanga in east Jabel Marra.
“In the past few days we have not been undertaking any operations, to allow the reconciliation conference to happen,” he said.
Experts estimate 200,000 have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in four years of rape, murder and pillage in Darfur which Washington calls genocide.
U.N. and AU observers blame the pro-government militia, known locally as Janjaweed, for the worst atrocities.
Khartoum denies genocide, a term European governments are also reluctant to use. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating alleged war crimes in the region.
The United Nations, at odds with Khartoum over the deployment of U.N. troops to Darfur, has declined to take any media with them to the rebel conference.
But Neby called on the U.N and the AU to help foreign media attend saying journalists were needed to guarantee the safety of the meeting.
Foreign media have been banned from Darfur since November. Authorities said that this week travel permits would begin to be issued again. But only some journalists from smaller agencies have so far been granted permission to travel.
(Reuters)