Sudan says attacked Darfur rebels – state media
KHARTOUM, Jan 22 (Reuters) – Sudanese armed forces battled rebels from the remote western region of Darfur, killed a rebel commander and took control of a town there, state media said on Thursday.
But the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) denied Commander Yahia Libis had been killed and said they had seen off an attack on one of their bases from government forces.
Two main rebel groups launched a revolt in arid Darfur in February, accusing the Khartoum government of marginalising the poor area. Fighting has intensified since peace talks with one group broke down in December. Each side blames the other.
“The armed forces managed the day before yesterday to enter Ein Sirro and killed commander Yahia Libis,” said state-owned al-Anbaa newspaper, quoting the governor of Northern Darfur state, Osman Kebir.
The SLA, which took part in the failed Chad-mediated talks with the government last year, said Libis was still alive.
“Yahia is not killed at all. The army attacked us many times and we have defended against them successfully,” SLA Chairman Abdel Wahed Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur told Reuters from Darfur.
Governor Kebir said the army captured Ein Sirro, west of Kutum town in Northern Darfur, and inflicted heavy losses on the rebels. Kutum is about 900 km (560 miles) west of Khartoum.
Darfur rebels have said Sudan’s army aided by militiamen had been attacking rebel-held territory in Northern Darfur since Friday. The government declined to comment on the fighting. The privately owned Alwan newspaper also quoted Kebir as saying 10 SLA leaders including Libis were killed.
On January 8 the SLA said one of its field commanders, Abdallah Abakr was killed in a government ambush in Darfur.
Kebir said the security situation in his state was under control, but issued a directive for this year’s school exams to be held in the state’s capital to “secure the examinations,” according to the independent Akhbar al-Youm newspaper.
Sudan is now negotiating in Kenya a peace deal with separate rebels from the south of Sudan to end more than two decades of civil war there. Analysts say a peace deal in Kenya could be undermined by the escalating conflict in the west.