At least 70 civilians killed by government forces in a series of raids on Darfur villages : rebels
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG Associated Press Writer
NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 28, 2004 (AP) — Sudanese government forces launched a series of raids on western villages, killing at least 70 civilians and forcing tens of thousands to flee, a rebel spokesman said Saturday.
The attacks began shortly before noon Friday, when about 300 militia fighters assaulted Tarne, a village about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) west of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Hassan Mandela, a spokesman for the Sudanese Liberation Movement, told The Associated Press. Homes were burned, resisters were shot and thousands forced to flee, he said.
Over the next few hours, the militia sacked five other nearby villages, Mandela said in a telephone interview from western Sudan. At least 70 people were killed in the attacks and more than 50,000 forced to flee to safer areas, he said.
It was not possible to independently verify the information and government officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Mandela said there were no rebels in the villages, which are in a part of the western Darfur region controlled by the government. But the residents of the villages were largely black African Muslims, the ethnic group from which the rebels draw the bulk of their fighters, he said. The government-backed militiamen were mostly Sudanese Arabs.
Both the United Nations and Amnesty International, a London-based human rights groups, have accused government forces of targeting civilians in Darfur. Amnesty has said the rebels were also involved in attacks on civilians.
Fighting between two rebel groups – the Sudanese Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement – the army, and government-backed militia, has forced more than 600,000 people to flee their homes in Darfur and killed hundreds, aid agencies estimate.
On Feb. 9, Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir said the military was “in full control” of the Darfur, a dirt-poor region bordering Chad, and offered amnesty to surrendering rebels. But the rebels rejected el-Bashir’s offer and said they were still fighting.
The insurgency began last February and has intensified as peace talks between the government and southern rebels fighting a 21-year-long civil war have inched toward their conclusion. Those talks, staged in Kenya, resumed nearly two weeks ago.
But the talks do not include the Darfur rebels, who say they are fighting for a share power and wealth in Africa’s largest country – the same as the southern insurgents.