Darfur rebel SLM leader denies killing AU peacekeepers

Oct 10, 2005 (ABUJA) — The leader of the largest rebel group in the Sudanese region of Darfur angrily denied Monday that his fighters had killed five African Union peacekeepers.

The African Union has said it holds the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and its political wing the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM) responsible for Saturday’s attack in southern Darfur, in which three Nigerian troops and two civilian drivers were killed.

But SLM president Abdul Wahid Mohamed Ahmed Elnour said in a statement released at peace talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja that neither his forces, nor a rival faction led by SLM secretary general Mani Minawi Arkol had been involved.

He said the SLM “condemns those who try to hinder the efforts of the African peacekeeping forces in Darfur” and implied that Sudanese government forces had been behind the killings.

“We urge the AU to be aware of the tactics of the Khartoum regime aimed at discrediting SLM,” he said, complaining that AU officials had spoken out without first thoroughly investigating.

In a statement released in Addis Ababa on Sunday, AU Commission Chairman Alpha Omar Konare “unreservedly condemns the killings and holds the SLA — a main rebel group — responsible for this wicked and atrocious act.”

The pan-African body has some 6,300 troops in Darfur tasked with monitoring a fragile ceasefire between black African rebels and government-backed Arab militias. It is looking to increase its contingent to 7,700.

(AFP/ST)