Sudanese Army accuses Darfur rebels of launching new attack

KHARTOUM, July 24, 2005 (Xinhua) — The Sudanese armed forces denounced here Sunday that a rebel group in the western Darfur region launched a new attack on a convoy guarded by a government army force, the official SUNA news agency reported.

Sudan Liberation Army rebels enter a village in the desert east of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state November 8, 2004. (Reuters).

Abdul-Rahman al-Khalifa, spokesman of the Sudanese armed forces, was quoted as saying in a statement that the government forces defeated and chased the attackers on Niyala-Fashir road earlier in the day.

He noted that the rebels have first seized a Sudanese military vehicle and attacked some villages of innocent civilians, adding that the attackers killed one army officer and three soldiers guarding the convoy.

In the statement, Al-Khalifa meanwhile expressed that the Sudanese armed forces are committed to restore peace and security in Darfur, stressing the armed forces’ stickness to the international agreements and treaties the government signed with all parties concerned on the Darfur issue.

However, the spokesman voiced the Sudanese government’s right to protect the people in accordance with international treaties.

Sudan’s arid and impoverished western region of Darfur has been in the grip of civil war for more than two years. Many people have since been killed and more others driven from their homes.

On July 5, the Sudanese government and two Darfur rebel groups signed a peace deal, the Declaration of Principles, as a basis for seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict.