West Sudan rebels say military intervention welcome

CAIRO, April 7 (Reuters) – Rebels from Sudan’s western Darfur region would welcome any outside military action to quell the violence which U.N. officials have described as ethnic cleansing, rebel leaders said on Wednesday.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday that outside military action may be needed in west Sudan, where two rebel groups accuse the Khartoum government of arming Arab militias to loot and burn African villages.

The rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) chairman Abdel Wahed Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur said: “We are requesting the international community like the United Nations, or the United States…just to bring forces here to protect a ceasefire, to be as an observer for what is going to be another genocide and to protect civilians.”

An official from the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said the international community had a duty to send military forces to Darfur.

“Yes of course we welcome this. Due to the conditions in Darfur (sending troops) is the duty and responsibility of the international community because there is a disaster happening there,” Abu Bakr Hamid al-Nur told Reuters.