Sudan accuses rebels of killing 23 police, one civilian in North Darfur

Jan 24, 2006 (EL-FASHER) — The governor of North Darfur state said Sudan Liberation Army rebels attacked a government convoy and killed 23 policemen and one civilian, the official Sudanese news agency reported Tuesday.

Members of Sudan Liberation Army walk with their rifles at Ashma village 30 km (19 miles) from Nyala, south Darfur, October 6, 2004.

It quoted Osman Mohamed Youcif Kibir, Northern Darfur State governor, of accusing the rebels of attacking in disregard of African Union-sponsored peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria.

SUNA said the attack occurred Monday as the convoy was moving from El-Fasher to Kebkabiya on official patrol duties.

While receiving the bodies of the victims and the injured at Al-Fashir airport this morning, Kibir said the armed rebels targeted this convoy because it was transporting provisions and special equipment for the police force working at Kabkabiyah to protect the lives of citizens.

“We in the government are committed to all conventions and agreements and accords reached but we will not turn a blind eye or keep silent to any aggression,” the agency said, quoting a statement by the El-Fasher government.

It threatened to respond “without mercy and ruthlessly” against those who violated agreements concluded. It did not elaborate, nor did it say whether the attacking rebel troops sustained any losses.

Decades of low-level tribal clashes over land and water in the western Darfur region erupted into large-scale violence in early 2003 when ethnic African tribes took up arms, accusing the Arab-dominated central government of neglect.

The government is accused of responding by unleashing Arab tribal militias known as Janjaweed to murder and rape civilians and lay waste to villages. It denies the charge.

Earlier this month, a U.N.-appointed panel accused the Sudanese government and rebels of blocking peace in Darfur, and recommended that the Security Council impose sanctions on key figures from all groups.

The panel’s final report also accused all parties to the conflict of committing widespread human rights violations, including torture. It said the government, the rebel Sudan Liberation Army and militia groups “have shown least regard for the welfare of civilians.”

An estimated 180,000 people have died in the upheaval — many from hunger and disease — and about 2 million others have been displaced.

The U.N. panel accused all parties, especially the Sudanese government and the Sudan Liberation Army, of “consistent, willful and systematic violation” of an April 2004 cease-fire.

The government has also “abjectly failed to fulfill its commitments to identify, neutralize and disarm militia groups outside the formal state security forces under its influence, as demanded by the U.N. Security Council,” it said.

(ST)