Darfur residents report new Sudan militia attacks
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Oct 7 (Reuters) – Arab militiamen attacked villages in Sudan’s North Darfur state as recently as last month, according to residents who fled the attacks to camps for displaced people.
The residents spoke to a U.N. official on a visit to Darfur where a conflict between the Khartoum government and rebel groups has led to what the United Nations says is one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
Residents of Abu Delig, about 50 km (30 miles) south of El-Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, said their village was attacked by 150 military personnel and aerial bombardment in late August to early September, said the official who declined to be named.
Abu Delig is between government and rebel territory and often changes hands. The presence of rebels in villages helps make them a target for government attacks, she said.
The residents described the attackers as heavily-armed men wearing camouflage-style uniforms, a common description for the Janjaweed militia.
The U.N. Security Council has threatened Sudan with possible sanctions if it does not stop the violence, which the United States has branded genocide. Sudan dismisses the U.S. charge.
The official said she heard first hand reports from residents of tens of thousands of new displaced persons in government and rebel territory in North and South Darfur state.
The new figures have yet to be included in U.N. estimates that 1.5 million people have been displaced by the conflict that erupted in 2003, she said.
“Darfur could continue to mushroom out of control because of ongoing insecurities,” the official told Reuters.
The villagers said the rebel Sudan Liberation Army set up its base in the town’s police station but the town was attacked when rebels moved out.
The military accused villagers of supporting the rebels and some said their sons had indeed joined the movement, the official said, adding: “The rebels are unintentionally putting these people in danger.”
In South Darfur, near the railway line which connects the state capital Nyala to Khartoum, many villagers were being caught along the ever-changing frontline between government forces and rebels, she said.
“The SLA told us there were about 13,000 IDPs there, and they were not in good condition,” she said. The IDPs said they had been displaced 40 days ago by attacks on their villages.