Darfur rebels strongly condemn attack on African troops, urge probe
October 1, 2007 (LONDON) — The leader of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement, Abdelwahid al-Nur, has strongly denounced the attack against African Union troops in northern Darfur; he urged swift investigation and to bring the assailants to justice.
The Chairman of the SLM “rejects and strongly condemns the abject attack against the African peacekeeping force based in Haskanita in North Darfur. He also urged a swift probe to identify the assailants and to bring them to justice.
Al-Nur told Sudan Tribune that AU peacekeepers are “friends of Darfur people”. “We appreciate their role and as movement we provide them all the necessary facilities to achieve their mission” he added.
Unidentified force of about 1,000 troops attacked AU force base outside the area of Haskanita Saturday after sunset, when Muslims break their daytime fast for the holy month of Ramadan, AU officers said.
Ten AU soldiers are killed and around fifty are missed. The remaining AU peacekeepers were evacuated from the base under the protection of the Sudanese army.
Suleiman Marjan, the SLA commander in northern Darfur slammed the attack against the small African force. He requested a quick investigation to identify the responsible of this attack. He also requested the rebel groups which were based in the area to clearly explain the position of their troops at the time of the attack and to provide the necessary information to the investigators.
However, reliable sources contacted by the Sudan Tribune accused the Khartoum backed janjaweed militia of the attack. The sources said that the leader of rebel JEM, Khalil Ibrahim, had withdrawn his troops from Haskanita since last month attack by Sudanese troops.
It also indicated that the assailant attacked the remaining force of Abdella Yahia of SLM unity faction and burnt the villages around the Haskanita.
The under-equipped African force of around 7,000 troops from 26 countries patrolling the region, which is the size of France, is due to start being replaced later this year by a hybrid 26,000-strong AU-UN force.
Abdelwhaid al-Nur, who reiterated the commitment of the rebel SLM to a ceasefire agreement signed in April 2004, urged the deployment of the hybrid force in the troubled region of Darfur.
He also said that AU has no interest to delay further the effective deployment of the Hybrid Operation by insisting on the African character of the troops. “The participation of other nationalities is important because we want the best of troops, and we want the success of this peacekeeping force in its mission.”
He also underlined the pressing need to establish security on the ground and to disarm militias first before to discuss the rot causes of the conflict.
Saturday’s raid was the first time since the 7,000-member A.U. mission was deployed in June 2004 that one of its bases had been overrun, though soldiers have been attacked regularly. Several ambushes of A.U. forces in the past year have been attributed to the rebels.
The Darfur crisis began in 2003 when two rebel groups took up arms against the government. The government responded by arming Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, and providing them with air support as they attacked villages. Violence and disease have left as many as 450,000 dead and displaced 2.5 million.
(ST)