Darfur rebels accuse Sudanese government of continuing attacks

CAIRO, Sept 5 (AFP) — Rebels in the western Sudan region of Darfur accused the Sudanese authorities on Friday of continuing to attack their bases just 24 hours before a six-week ceasefire was due to come into force.

Mani Arkoi Minaoui, the general secretary of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) told AFP in Cairo by telephone: “Warplanes belonging to government forces carried out raids on our positions and our villages on Thursday.”

But he added that there had been no casualties.

“Also, government forces and militia who are their allies attacked a village in northern Darfur and our forces returned fire,” he added.

The Sudanese government and the SLM rebels signed a six-week ceasefire on Wednesday in Chad which will come into effect on Saturday.

Several hundred people have died in clashes between the two sides in the semi-desert region bordering Chad over in recent months.

The ceasefire agreement is the result of secret negotiations in Chad last weekend with Chadian President Idriss Deby acting as mediator between the two sides.

The SLM is not included in the framework of peace talks aimed at ending Khartoum’s 20-year-old civil war with the southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army.