Sudan’s Darfur rebels burn 15 homes, one killed: SMC report

KHARTOUM, May 2 (AFP) — A group of rebels set ablaze 15 homes in a village of Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region in a raid in which a man was killed, a pro-government news service reported Monday.

Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) rebel passes an abandoned building in the desert west of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, November 8, 2004. (Reuters) .

The attack on Reel village in South Darfur state occurred on Sunday and was aimed at sabotaging the return of displaced persons to their homes, said the Sudanese Media Centre.

It quoted an official as saying the torching of the grass-thatched huts was intended to discourage “the voluntary return programme of the IDPs (displaced) to their villages by showing that there is no security and stability in the region”.

The centre did not name the rebel group responsible for the attack.

Khartoum and the rebels regularly accuse each other of violating a ceasefire agreement they signed last year.

As many as 300,000 people are believed to have died in more than two years of civil strife pitting government forces and their Arab militia allies against ethnic minority rebels in the region.

The conflict has also displaced more than two million people, according to the United Nations.