Rebel JEM denies clashese with Sudanese army in Darfur
January 16, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — A leading Darfur rebel group Wednesday denied Sudanese military claims that government troops defeated the rebels in a clash a day earlier in southern Darfur.
The leader of the Justice and Equality Movement told The Associated Press his fighters were nowhere near southern Darfur’s Sheiria area, because they were fighting closer to the border with neighboring Chad.
On Tuesday, Sudanese military spokesman Brig. Osman Mohamed al-Aghbash was quoted by the government-linked Sudan Media Center as saying dozens of JEM rebels had attacked Sudanese troops in Sheiria. Soldiers repulsed the attack and caused several casualties among the rebels, al-Aghbash said.
JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim strongly denied the report, saying his forces were deployed instead around El Geneina, the capital of western Darfur where the government conducted new aerial bombings this week.
“The government is making completely false allegations. Nothing has taken place around Sheiria,” Ibrahim told AP by satellite phone from West Darfur.
A U.N. official near Sheiria said there had been no reports of fighting there. He said it was possible the army had clashed with another of the many rebel factions or militias that roam Darfur.
“But it’s unlikely anything took place with JEM – they’re not in that zone,” the official said.
Al-Aghbash also reportedly denied government forces were conducting new air raids in western areas of Darfur controlled by JEM.
But Ibrahim said two such raids took place Tuesday, killing several people. Civilians are fleeing the localities of Sileia and Saraf Jidad because more bombings are expected, he said.
Aid workers in West Darfur confirmed at least three civilians had died in two air raids earlier this week, and that government aircraft again bombed the Jebbel Moon area of West Darfur Tuesday.
The aid workers said they couldn’t confirm reports of new casualties because most aid groups had evacuated the area.
More than 200,000 people have died in Darfur and 2.5 million been chased to refugee camps since 2003 when ethnic African rebels took arms against the Arab-dominated central government, accusing it of discrimination.
Earlier this month, the U.N. launched a new peacekeeping mission to this remote western region of Sudan, but the deployment is far behind schedule and Western countries have so far failed to commit heavy fighting equipment such as helicopters.
(AP)