New armed militias emerge in Sudan’s Darfur region

KHARTOUM, Oct 27, 2004 (Al-Hayat) — Violence is escalating in Sudan’s western Darfur region. New armed militias have recently emerged and it is suspected that its elements may have infiltrated from neighbouring Chad.

Members of the Sudan Liberation Army ( SLA) patrol around Dorsa village in west Darfur, October 10, 2004.

London based newspaper Al-Hayyat learnt that the new armed militias clashed on the Sudan-Chad border yesterday with the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) which is the main rebel group in western Sudan.

Government sources said the new armed militias are elements who broke away from the Darfur rebels.

SLM spokesman Mohamed Hamid denied this allegation. He said: “The new armed groups are Chadian elements armed by Khartoum to spread its propaganda about Darfur rebels breaking away and handing over weapons to the government. However, this plan is well known.

He added: “Those Chadians mercenaries clashed with the government over their pay and turned themselves into gangs of armed looters.”

He further said: “They attacked us south of Tinah — in western Darfur, on the Sudan-Chad border — and we killed seven of them.”

Hamid accused government troops of torching 30 villages over the past two days north of Al-Da’ayn town in eastern Darfur, around the triangle of Allaiat -Jar al-Nabi, Tawisha and Haskanit . He indicated that governmental forces bombed the town and ten people killed by the air-raids.

Material from the BBC Monitoring service & ST.