Sudan accuses chad of shelling Darfur, says It retaliated

Jan 28, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan accused Chad on Saturday of shelling an area in its western border state of West Darfur and said its army had retaliated. No casualties were reported.

The border between the two is tense and each country accuses the other of supporting rebel movements against them.

“The area of Armankul northwest of the town of Geneina, capital of West Darfur state, came under artillery shelling that continued for an hour and a half from inside the Chadian territories,” military spokesman Gen. Abbas Abdelrahaman Khalifa said in a brief statement carried by the official news agency, SUNA.

He didn’t specify whether the attack was carried out by Chadian soldiers or a rebel group.

“Our armed forces have dealt with this aggression with a retaliation in preservation of the sovereignty of the national territories and safeguarding the lives of Sudanese subjects,” Khalifa said.

The statement from did not say whether there were casualties on either side.

Sudan has accused Chad of supporting the rebels in a nearly 3-year-old rebellion in Darfur. Chad’s government has also complained of periodic attacks by Sudanese militias, which they believe are linked to the Sudanese government and based in Darfur.

Khalifa said that despite Sudan’s good intentions toward Chad, N’djamena was continuing “a series of aggressions on our western borders.”

(ST/AP)