Rebels say 40 killed in Darfur attack
March 31, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — At least 40 people were killed on Saturday in Sudan’s south Darfur region by the government-backed Janjaweed militia, a rebel group said.
“I have the names of 43 members of the Arab Torjam tribe who were killed on Saturday in an attack by the Border Guards (also known as the Janjaweed) in the area west of Nyala,” the provincial capital, Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) told AFP from London by telephone.
Abdel Rahman Hasaballah of the Torjam tribe in Nyala, reached by telephone, also said there had been an attack, but he gave the toll as 53 dead.
“We are getting ready to bury 23 victims who were collected by police 62 kilometres (38 miles) west of Nyala, and there is another report of 30 people killed in Bolbol Jazou, 46 kilometres (28 miles) west of Nyala.”
Hasaballah said that the attackers appeared to want to steal their livestock but encountered resistance.
Ibrahim expressed surprise that Arab Janjaweed militiamen were attacking a fellow Arab tribe when he said they normally focus their efforts on African tribes in the area.
The total number of wounded is still unknown, but both Hasaballah and Ibrahim said nine people had been admitted to Nyala hospital.
Ibrahim is one of the leaders of the SLM factions that rejected the May 2006 peace accord with the central government which has so far failed to halt the four-year civil war in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
Some 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in the fighting, according to UN estimates. Some sources say the death toll is much higher.
Much of the killing has been blamed on the Janjaweed militias, which were charged by the government with putting down the rebellion launched by rebel groups seeking a larger share of the country’s resources.
In February, prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of the International Criminal Court accused Janjaweed leader Ali Kosheib of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture and mass rape.
(AFP)