Sudan’s southern rebels kill 25 civilians: monitors

NAIROBI, Aug 25 (AFP) — Southern Sudan’s main rebel group, in peace talks with the government, killed 25 civilians including women and children in a June attack in Western Upper Nile province, an international monitoring team said in a report seen by AFP on Wednesday.

The attack on June 4 and 5 was carried out by rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), despite having signed an agreement to protect civilians from harm, the Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) said.

“On or about June 4, 2004, twenty-four civilians working as charcoal makers were massacred by members of the SPLM/A in a village on Akrwa Island, approximately 15 kilometres (about nine miles) south of Kaka,” in Western Upper Nile province, said the report said dated August 15 and issued on the CPMT website.

The SPLM/A killed another person on June 5, the report said, without giving the motive of the attack.

The conflict in southern Sudan erupted in 1983 when the mainly Christian and traditional south took up arms to end domination by successive Islamic regimes in the arabised and wealthier north.

Fighting last March and April in Upper Nile region pitted militiamen loyal to former rebel leader Lam Akol against pro-government fighters.

Akol defected to the government side in the mid-1990s but last February rejoined the SPLM/A.

The clashes displaced at least 50,000 people and killed an unknown number of live others, according to aid groups.

Akol denied any role in the massacre alleged by the US-funded CPMT, which was formed in 2002 to protect civilians and investigate attacks on non-military targets.

“Why would we (SPLM/A) murder people who are paying taxes? Who would be left to do the work?” Akol asked in an interview carried in the same report.

“It is the people we wish to influence. Killing women and children only produces enemies, and that is not what we are about,” Akol was quoted as saying.

Sudan-watchers have described the clashes as the worst since the government in Khartoum and SPLM/A signed a ceasefire in October 2002.

Both sides are in an advanced stage of peace talks in Kenya. A permanent ceasefire and technical details remain to be settled in order to clinch a comprehensive peace deal to end a war that has killed 1.5 million people and displaced four million others.